As We Go On
by Banshi13
Summary: Yet another little ficlet of how Dominc and Letty may have gotten started. Includes everything from Dom and Mias father dying up to the movie stuff. Rating is PG-13 for now, but depending on what happens, it may be raised later on. Read and Review to y
1. Damn that Pasta

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the Fast and the Furious. This includes characters, cars, stuff along that line...although I wish that I could have Letty's car...that thing is cool as all get out...I wouldn't mind her boyfriend either...heh heh heh...  
"Admit it Letty. You've got it bad for him. You've had it bad for him since you were twelve!" Mia leaned on the passanger side of an old, beat up 83 toyota truck.  
  
"Yea, and?" Letty rolled out from underneath the vehicle on a pallet and sat up, looking over at her only female friend in the world.  
  
"And why don't you go after him?" Mia asked, looking down at her grease and oil covered friend. Letty furrowed her brow at Mia, as though the answer were obvious. "Mia, lemme explain something to you. Dominic Teretto will never see me as anything more than a tomboy who is in to cars." She shook the wrench that was in her hand to emphasize her point, then raised her eyebrows to the shelf that was above Mia. "Hand me the oil, will ya?" Mia rolled her eyes, but did as she was asked.  
  
"Well, you've gotta make it seem like you're more then that!" she pressed on, handing the bottle to Letty.  
  
"Mia! I am 14 years old! Dominic is 17! What is he going to want with a barely there teenage girl?"   
  
Mia nearly laughed out loud. The only part of Letty that was underneath the truck was her head. Her arms were out and unscrewing the top off of the car oil. Regaining her composure, Mia squatted on the cold cement floor of Letty's garage. "Well, for one, it would help if you stopped thinking of yourself as 'barely there'. You're not underware, Letty," Mia heard a groan from under the car. "And-" she started to continue, but the phone ringing cut her off. "Crap, I'll be right back," she told Letty, getting a concentrated sounding, 'uh-huh' in response.  
  
"Hello?"   
  
"Mia? What are you doing answering Letty's phone?"  
  
"Oh...Letty's underneath 2000 pounds of automobile right now Papa...she's a little indisposed."  
  
A laugh came from the other end of the line.  
  
"I can well imagine. Anyways, it's time to come home. Dinners on," her father told her. Mia smiled at his warm voice. "Alright Papa. Hey, is it alright for Letty to come over? You know, eat with us, hangout, stuff like that?"  
  
"Sure, bring the whole neighborhood if you want, but hurry up. Pasta's getting cold."  
  
Mia giggled. Her fathers priorities were sometimes out of wack, but she loved him all the same. "Alright Papa. I'll be home in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and walked back over to Letty, who was crawling out from under the truck.  
  
"Go get dressed. You're coming over to my place for a little while," Mia told her. Letty rolled her eyes, wiping her hands on her jeans. "For what?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. "You're gonna eat dinner with us, hangout afterwards and stuff."  
  
"I've got to much to do over here," Letty answered, shaking her head and smiling at the same time. She wasn't stupid, she knew what Mia was trying to do.  
  
"Oh come on Letty!" Mia pleaded with her. "Dad's making pasta tonight...probably got some of that secret sauce that you like so much to go with it," her eyes gleamed. Mia knew how much Letty loved the pasta that Mr. Teretto made. Letty looked up at the ceiling, her hip sticking out to the right side, and Mia could see instantly that Letty was going to give in.  
  
"Fine, I'll go. But I am not wearing a dress or any of that other girly shit. I'll go the way I am," Letty told her, wiping her arms free of the oil with a towel.  
  
"Alright, just as long as you go," Mia said, turning and walking out of Letty's garage. The latter groaned and threw the towel on the floor.  
  
Damn Mr. Teretto and his pasta.  
"Letty! Good to see you! How's high school going?" Mr. Teretto came out of the kitchen to welcome Letty, but he stopped short as he caught sight of her jeans and face. "Or how about before you tell me you go upstairs and wash that gunk off, eh?" He gave her a fatherly smile, and Letty couldn't help but grin. She started up the stairs, but Dom and Mia's father called up to her again, and she turned around.  
  
"And tell Dominic that dinners ready, will you?"  
  
"Sure thing, Mr. Teretto!" Letty answered, bounding up the stairs and into the bathroom. Turning on the faucet and lathering up her face, she scrubbed until there was no more dirt or grime, then rinsed herself clean. As she was drying her face, she looked at herself in the mirror. A fresh, boldly tanned girl looked back at her with big brown eyes. Stepping back and turning to the side, she took stock of the rest of her body. She definately had her fathers broad shouldered build, but so far, she was keeping with tradition on her mothers side when it came to her bust size. She'd barely made it into a "B" size, but the sex educators at school gave her hope. She wouldn't be done growing until 18 or 19 hit.  
  
She hoped.  
  
Walking out of the bathroom, she made her way down the hall towards Dom's room, and knocked on the door.  
  
"Hey Dom!"  
  
No answer. Letty knocked again, more insistant this time. "Dom! Dinners, on!"  
  
Again, no answer.  
  
Grumbeling to herself, Letty opened the door cautiously. Dom's room was always a mess and she was never sure if spare parts fora car, or a car itself would come crashing down on her.  
  
As she walked through the room, she looked around. Clothes were strewn about the floor, a tool chest was sitting against the wall, some of its materials discarded on the floor. On the walls were posters of Dominics favorite racers and thier cars. And on the bed was a sleeping Dominic Teretto.  
  
Shirtless.  
  
Letty cocked her head to the side a bit, a devious grin spreading on her latino features. Running quietly from the room, Letty went back to the bathroom, grabbing one of the cups and filling it with cold water. She went back into Dom's room and tip-toed her way over to the side of his bed. Struggeling to keep from laughing, her tongue between her teeth, Letty slowly overturned the cup over Doms chest, letting the water cascade over his bare front.  
  
"Mmm-ma-mm-whu-huh?!" Doms head shook as he was forcibly awoken from his slumber. His shocked senses didn't register the uproarious laughter thatw as plauging Letty until he saw her shaking form over him.  
  
"Letty?! What the hell are you doin' in my room?" Letty continued to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand. Dominic was busily going through the mound of covers on his bed, trying to find a shirt.  
  
"Just letting you know tha-hat-" she paused, trying to breath, "that dinners on." She looked at him as he still searched for a shirt. Her own eyes caught a white undershirt at the foot of his bed, and she reached down for it, tossing it at him. It landed in his face, and Letty backed out of the room, a grin still firmly planted on her face.  
  
"See ya downstairs!"  
"Dad, I thought you said you had the house fumigated for pests," Dom said, entering the kitchen. His father looked up from the table, laddeling some sauce onto his pasta, ziti and speghetti, and regarded his oldest child quizzically. "I did, Dominic." Dom nodded at Letty, who was looking at Mia with an innocent expression on her face, at the same time twirling her pasta with her fork. "Then what is she doing here?" he asked, taking his seat from his father and nodding at Letty. Mia rolled her eyes.  
  
"Your sister invited her for dinner, Dom," his father answered in a tired voice, putting a forkful of pasta in his mouth. Dom glared at Mia beside him, but she was to busy moving the speghetti around to notice.  
  
"So, Papa," Mia pipped up, changing the subject. "What time are we leaving for the race on Friday?"  
  
"Eh...figure we leave around six in the morning, we'll be in Sacramento by 10 am or so," her father answered. "It'll be an all day thing, so make sure you bring something to do. Like homework," he looked pointidly at Dominic, who nodded his head. He and his father had been throught he homework route one to many times before.  
  
"Alright, alright, I'll bring my English paper along with me. Hey, Dad," now it was Doms turn to switch subjects, "Vince wants to tag along, is that good?" Mr. Tretto nodded his head; he was still chewing his food. Mia, seeing an opportunity, perked up. "Well, if Dom's bringing Vince, can I bring Letty?" Dom's head shot up and he looked up at his father, nearly begging him with puppy dog eyes to say no. But Mia's sweet pleading smile won out.  
  
"It's only fair Dom. If you're bringing Vince, then Mia can invite Letty."  
  
"Well then, I'll be following you in my car," Dom said, slurping up a stray speghetti noodle and looking up at his siter, "because you are NOT riding with us." Mia only rolled her eyes.  
  
"Thank God. I want to get there alive." 


	2. Sleepover With the Boys

The night before the trip to Sacramento, Letty and Vince spent the night at the Terettos. Dom and Vince wound up spending most of the night in the garage, while the girls stayed in the house....with the television, food, and bathroom.  
  
So far the two teens had made it to three in the morning without batting a tired eye.  
  
"So, wait, wait, wait...you're not dating him why?" Letty asked, taking a swig of her coke and looking at Mia. "I'm not dating him because he's to old, he hangs out with my brother, and we're not even together and he gets jealous of any guy that even looks at me the wrong way. Imagine what he would be like if we were an item, huh?" Mia defended herself, reaching for the one of many bags of chips on the floor.  
  
The girls were discussing Vince, Doms best friend. Like Letty had a crush on Dom, Vince had been pining for Mia for about a year now, but Mia wasn't dropping for him.  
  
"He's just acting like that because he likes you so much." Letty defended right back. "Well, there's the little problem of Dom glaring daggers into Vinces head whenever he so much as smiles at me. And it's not only Vince; Dom does that with any guy that looks at me."  
  
"Oh for...look Mia, you're 15 years old, you're old enough to date anyone you want. Dom's just playing over-protective brother."  
  
"And that argument would sway me, but the fact of the matter is that I am not interested in Vince what-so-ever-"  
  
A clatter from inside the kitchen cut her off, and both girls looked towards the noise.  
  
"What was that?" Mia asked. Letty shrugged her shoulders and got up. "Dunno," she said, getting up and walking towards the kitchen. Reaching in towards the wall, she felt for the light switch and flipped it on.  
  
In the doorway leading to the garage was Dom, who was staring at Vince, who was leaning over the table in a most hilarious way. The chairs that had been tucked under the table were somewhat disturbed. All Letty did was raise an eyebrow.  
  
"Letty, what is it?" Mias voice came from the living room.  
  
"Nothin' Mia. Just the boys being stupid is all." She walked back into the living room, Dom and Vince, who was limping somewhat slightly following her.  
  
"We weren't being 'stupid'," Dom said in a dignified manner. He clapped Vince on the shoulder. "Vince is just blind, that's all."  
  
"Man, I am not blind. It's your fault for putting the dinner table five feet from the door!" He flopped on the couch and looked over at the younger Teretto. "How you doin' Mia?" he asked politely. She gave him a sorrowful grin. "Apparently alot better than you are." Dom and Letty both laughed.   
  
Poor Vince.  
  
"So, what are you girls doing up so late? Big race tomorrow, shouldn't you be getting your beauty rest or something?" Dominic walked past the girls and Vince and settled himself into the recliner. Mia ignored her brother, but Letty, being the confrontational person that she was, put her hands on her hips indignantly. "Dom, I would have never pegged you for a sexist!"  
  
"What are you talkin' about?" It's a known fact. 83% of women say that they need eight hours of undisturbed rest so that they feel pretty the next morning." Dom crossed his legs at the ankle and folded his arms over his stomach, smiling triumphantly at the 14 year old.  
  
"Well, I guess I'm in the other 17% category."  
  
"Yea, you would be...if you were a woman."  
  
Letty's eyes narrowed. "Who's not a woman? I'm as woman as any chick walkin' down the street!" She was standing over her sleeping area, her pillow and blanket at her feet. Dominic rolled his eyes, as did his sister, but Vince laughed out loud. "What, you think it's funny?" Letty asked, bending down for her pillow and picking it up. Not being able to speak, Vince could only nod his head. Therefore, Letty chucked the pillow at him, and it landed right in the side of his head.  
  
"Hey!" Vince cried out, yanking the pillow away from his face. "What was that for?"  
  
"I dunno, ya bozo! Why don't you tell me!"  
  
"Who you callin' bozo?!" Vince yelled back at her.  
  
"Hey guys!" Mia hissed, "can we keep it down please? Dad needs his sleep before the race tomorrow!"  
  
Vince though, was already standing up and advancing on Letty. The small Latino girl stood her ground through, not budging. Vince towered over her as he stood in front of Letty.  
  
"I'll keep it down Mia, no problem," he told her, "it'll be Letty here making the noise."  
  
A look of confusion passed over Letty's face, but Vinces meaning was soon explained. Within a split second, his arms were wrapped around Letty's stomach, and he lifted her up, at the same time tickeling her with his fingers. A shriek filled the room, and Letty was soon trying to wiggle free of his grasp. Dom wasn't helping the situation by getting up and helping Vince tickle the helpless girl.  
  
"Oh th-hee! This is real fair!" Letty said, kicking her legs as Dom came up to her front, running his fingers over her stomach while Vince held her firmly, letting Dom deliver the torture. "Mia! Mia, help me!"  
  
Now, even though Mia had told the three to be quiet, the fact that a fellow female was being unjustly out-numbered by two very strong and capable young men made Mia forget her earlier plea. She stood up, grabbing the pillow that Letty had flung at Vince and came up behind the latter, slamming it over his back.  
  
"Ha! Take that one!" Mia said, a grin spreading over her tanned features. Vince nearly dropped Letty with the surprise attack, but he caught hold of her, just in one of the more painful places.  
  
"Dammit! Vince, your arms are around my chest!" Letty cried, slapping at his arms. "Oh...sorry 'bout that Let," he said, unceremoniously dropping her on the floor. She landed with a dull thud, and a squeak came out of her mouth. "Damn.." she muttered, looking up at Vince, who's back was to her.   
  
Mia, who was now on the defense was backing away from Vince, keeping the pillow in front of her as a barier. "Wassa matta Mia?" he asked in a playful babyish voice, "don't wanna play no more?"  
  
"W-we really should k-keep it do-down," Mia stammered out, moving behind the couch, "Dad'll wake up...you know?" Vince nodded, coming around the couch. "Yea, I know. But I'll say it again. It's not gonna be me makin' the noise." He lunged for her then, wrapping her his his strong arms and, just as he had done with Letty, began tickeling her. Mia was extremely sensitive around the stomach area, and she screamed when Vince poked her in the side.  
  
Meanwhile, Letty was still on the floor, trying to get up, but Dom wasn't letting her budge.  
  
"Where do you think you're going, Woman?" he asked, pushing her down lighty. Letty scowled slightly up at him and scooted back a bit, enabeling herself to get up without his harrasment. "I was gunno go help my friend of you don't mind," she said, turning around. But Dominic had other ideas.  
  
"I don't think so. You think I'm gonna let you sneak up on my man Vince?" Dom asked, dancing his way in front of her. Letty backed up a bit, giving herself some room to move if she had to. Putting her hands on her hips, she flipped her head a little bit and looked at him cooly. "What exactly are you going to do to stop me, Mr. Big Stuff?" She asked, an arrogant tone to her voice. Truth be told, if Dom wanted to pick Letty up and throw her over his shoulder, he would have no trouble doing so.  
  
But to be totally honest, Letty wouldn't have exactly fought that move.  
  
A stare down between the two very powerful personalities was on now, but when Letty finally made her move, Dom was ready for her. She had faked to the left, but gone right instead, intending to vault over the couch onto Vinces back, but Dom had seen it coming. Playing basketball for a few years had made his instincts a whole lot keener. Moving to intercept, Dom caught her easily in his arms. Letty in turn, tried to actually climb over Dom, but the latter wrestled her down to the floor with close to no problem at all.  
  
"What's wrong Dom?" Letty asked, struggeling in his grasp, "think I'm gonna get one up on Vinnie Boy?"  
  
"Nah," Dom answered, pinning her arms to the floor. "I just figured you'd want a chance to show me how much of a woman you could really be."  
  
Letty's mouth dropped open, but she quickly recovered, fighting back again, using her legs, stomach, anything that had muscle to try to get Dom to move just enough so that she wiggle out from under him.  
  
"Sorry Dommie, but you don't have that priveledge," bringing her knees up as much as she could with Dom half on half off her, she managed to pry him away just enough so that she could manuver her way out. She scampered away from him on her hands and knees, getting a safe distance from him before she got to her feet.  
  
"Hey Dom! A little help here with your sister, eh?"  
  
Both Letty and Dominics eyes flicked over to Mia and Vince, and Letty sank to the floor, laughter racking her body. Mia had some how managed to jump on his back and she'd put her hands over his eyes. "Not such a big man now that you can't see, huh?" Mia was saying as Vince was stumbeling around on the floor. Letty didn't see it, but Dom did.  
  
"Hey Vince! Watch out for the-"  
  
Vince backed against the couch, and lost his balance, sending himself and Mia over the top of it. He landed with Mia under him, her legs wrapped around him so she would stay on and not tumble to the floor.  
  
"-couch." Dom finished, going over to untangle his sister from Vinces waist and lift Vince up and off her.  
  
"Got taken down by a girl man...we're gonna have to talk," Dom said, punching Vince playfully in the upper arm.  
  
"What was I supposed to do, Dom? That's your sister, s'not like I can sit there and give her an upper cut or somethin'!"  
  
"Yea, yea, excuses, excuses," Letty said, walking over to sling and arm over Mias shoulder. "Good job, Mia. Very proud of you," she grinned at Vince, who scowled at her.  
  
"Well, that's enough of that...oh my god! Dom, it's four in the morning!" Mia said, pointing to the clock. Dom stretched and looked with her. "Yea...yea it is. Well ladies," he said, walking towards the stairs with Vince following, "while the rough and tumble was fun, we men must away to our rooms. Big race tomorrow. G'night!"   
  
"Night, Dom," Mia called after her brother, grabbing some of the blankets and putting them on her sleeping area.  
  
"Yea, night Dom, night Vince," Letty added, finding her pillow and tossing it over on her blankets. She looked up at Mia, who was brushing her long hair, getting ready to fix it into a braid. "Well, that was fun," she said, plopping down on the floor. Mia nodded. "Yep," she answered, weaving her hair in and out of her fingers.  
  
"You and Vince seemed to be having fun."  
  
"Not as much as you and Dom apparently," Mia told her smirking as she flicked her now completed braid behind her shoulders. "You should've taken him up on that offer," she continued, pulling the blankets over her. Letty rolled her eyes.  
  
"Please Mia. In front of you and Vince? No, don't think so," Letty answered, following her friends example and letting the blankets fall over her form.  
  
"Heh...you know what you should do?"   
  
"What?"  
  
"When we get to the race tomorrow, and after Dad wins, you should run up to Dom and give him one right on the mouth." Letty chuckled at that thought. That would be awkward to say the least.  
  
"No...he's never gonna see me as anything more than some puppy following him around all the time." Letty said, rolling over on her stomach and fluffing her pillows.  
  
"Nah. I say give it a couple of years, he'll come around," Mia assured her.  
  
*Yea, right* Letty thought to herself. "I'll try that," she told her, closing her eyes. "Night, Mia."  
  
"Night, Letty." 


	3. Red Flag

The Teretto's, Vince, and Letty awoke bright and early at 8:30 the next morning. It was quite a chaotic site. Mr. Teretto was running around grabbing tickets, toll money, spare cash for the kids, and accesories that his race car would need. Mia and Dom were busy shoveling stuff into dufflebags that would keep them busy. When Dom wasn't looking, his father took his English notebook and stuffed it into Dom's backpack, making sure that Dom would take the English paper with him to the race.  
  
Vince and Letty busied themselves by putting together a food cooler full of sandwiches, chips, drinks, and cookies. And of course, what everyone would need at the race was water, and a huge sports cool was dunked in the back of Mr. Teretto's truck.   
  
Finally, when everything was loaded and ready to go, the five race fanatics headed out towards the highway, with Dom and Vince following behind Mr. Terertto in Doms 1993 Mazda RX-7. Mia and Letty didn't even try to catch a ride with the boys.  
  
When the reached the raceway, Letty and Mia peered out the windows of the truck. Swarms of people in barely there clothing were gathered around trailors, hum-vees, trucks, cars, spoofed up cars, and vans. Many had tents and tables set up with food, beer, and other assorted items covering the surface. Letty, who hadn't been to one of Dom and Mia's fathers races before stared wide-eyed in fasination. She already loved the enviroment of this place. People were running around, eating, drinking...it was basically an all day party in her eyes.  
  
"Is this what it's like everytime?" she asked Mia. The girl nodded. She and Dom had been to dozens upon dozens of races with thier father, and the enviroment that surrounded them was nothing new or out of the ordinary. "Pretty much," she said, "this is where the general public hangs out. We get to hang around with the actual racers though...hot guys," Mia said, grinning at Letty and sticking her tongue between her teeth. Letty returned the grin, but looked behind her at Dom's car. Mia shook her head, chuckleing a bit. "Maybe you shouldn't have come actually," she told her. Letty looked at her.  
  
"Why not?" she asked.  
  
"Because Dominic is pretty well known with the ladies around here," Mia answered, "he loves them and they love him. It's a very benefitial relationship." She gave Letty an apologetic look, but her face quickly brightened. "Don't worry about it, Let. If Dom can have fun with other chicks, then you can have fun with other guys."  
  
"Not to many other guys mind you," Mr. Teretto pipped up, turning into his parking area, "I have to have you home by noon tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure that your parents would like to see you returned unharmed." He parked the truck and turned off the engine, getting out immediately. He waved at his son as Dominic parked next to him. "You need to watch yourself around here Letty," he continued, "alot of these guys play rough around here. In fact," he turned to Dom, who was getting out of the car with Vince, "Dom, I want you to keep an eye out for your sister and Letty. You know how some of these hot shots get around here."  
  
"Dad, Mia's been to plenty of races, she knows how to handle herself," Dom told him, leaning against the back of his car and folding his arms over his chest. His father however looked severly at his son. "That maybe the case Dominic, but those have been at races closer to home. We knew most of the people there. This is a state-wide race, son. Watch them." His tone was that of a man who was not joking around in the slightest, and Dominic got that point. Nodding to his father, he looked over at the girls and then to Vince.  
  
"Do we get paid for babysitting at least?"  
  
"Dominic..."  
  
"Alright, alright..." Dom sighed and looked at Mia and Letty, who were standing with thier arms crossed, scowls on thier faces. "Come on, let's go," he told him, and he and Vince began to walk towards the general public area where drinks, food, and souvineers were being sold. "It's not exactly our choice to be trailing along behind you like lost puppy dogs either, Dom," Mia told her brother. His response though was just to shrug and shake his head. Mia rolled her eyes and looked at Letty. "Come on Let, I'll point you in the important directions. Like the bbq sandwiches. Dom, we're gonna be over here a little bit." Without waiting for permission from her brother, Mia took Lettys shoulder and steered her towards the BBQ. Sandwich lines. After standing in line for what had to be 20 minutes, they were chowing down on messy sandwiches and ice cold sodas.  
  
"So when do the races start?" Letty asked after swallowing her food. She watched as Mia tried to speed up her chewing to answer her question. "They'll start around 1:00 or so. The TV crews have to have enough time to set up and all that crap, and then checks on the cars have to be made by the officials, you know, to make sure that none of them have any engine boosters or anything like that. It has to be fair, shit like that," she looked up as she saw her brother coming her way, "hey Dom! Where have you been?"  
  
"I could ask you two the same thing. Where did you guys run off to?" he answered, placing his fists on his hips and looking down at his sister. "We went and got food...as you can see," she told him, holding up her sandwich as proof. The anger immediately dissapered from Dom's eyes and he looked at Letty. "You guys got me and Vince some, right?" Letty almost choked on her sandwich with laughter. Mia meanwhile looked up at her brother as though he'd grown another head.  
  
"No. We didn't get you guys anything," she told them indignantly. "I told you that I was going to take Letty over to where the BBQ Sandwiches were, you could have come with us!"  
  
"Oh come off it Mia! You know how much I love those things!"   
  
"Well, you love them so much, go stand in line for the 20 minutes that we did and get them yourself!"  
  
Behind Dom, Vince chuckled slightly, watching the brother/sister banter. Which Dom did not take kindly to. He looked at his friend eyebrows raised. "Hey man, you don't understand. Those things keep me going, their like my oxegyn at races."   
  
Vince began to laugh outloud now.  
  
"Man, it's not funny!"  
  
And Vince was gone.   
  
"Well Dom," Letty said, swallowing the last bit of her sandwich, "I guess if you want to keep breathing, you'll go get that oxegyn of yours." Mia, having been biting her lip to keep from laughing now let the giggles flow, keeling over her legs, her hair flowing around her. Letty just looked up at Dom innocently and smiled.   
  
"That's real cute, Let," Dom told her. Grabbing Vince by the shoulder, he hauled him to a standing position and turned him towards the long line of customers that waited for the sandwiches that Dom loved so much.  
  
"Come on man, let's get some grub."  
  
Cheering what was left of thier sodas at them, the girls grinned.  
  
"You guys do that."  
"All spectators, please ajourn to the stands. The time is 12:55, the race will begin shortly."  
  
"Alright!" Mia said, grabbing Letty from the t-shirt and souvineer stand and hauling her towards the VIP stands in the racetrack. "We get the good seats girl," she explained to her. Letty grinned, pulling her arm from her friends grasp and following behind her dutifully. "Hey, where are the guys?"   
  
"Oh, they're probably with the other racers or something. They usually hang around with Dad until he goes to set up on the track and stuff," Mia told her, showing the tickets that her father had given her to the security gaurd that was on duty for the VIP section. "Come on, let's get to the front benches. That's where the boys will be." Manuvering thier way through pit crewmen, racers, and other fans and family members that had gotten the specialized tickets, Mia and Letty finally saw a bald head and a huge bulky frame in the front row that could only belong to Dominic and Vince. As they came down the ramp, the boys happened to turn thier way and notice them.  
  
"Where did you guys go this time?" Dom asked as his sister came up to him, giving her a hug. "Well, I was talking a few girls that I recognized from some of the other races, and Letty was over near the shirts and places like that." Dom nodded his head, looking back at the track as the cars began to come towards the starting line.  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to todays Stockcar race. Would you please rise for the singing of our National Anthem."  
  
At the announcers request all spectators in the stand stood, placing thier hands over thier hearts and taking off thier hats...well, all except Vince, who always forgot to take off his hat for formal occasions. Mia lightly elbowed him in the side, gesturing to him to remove the head-covering, which he did just as soon as the woman started singing.  
  
As soon as she was finished, cheers and applause arose from the audience, racers, pit crew and others, and the rev of the engines was soon the only thing that one could hear through out the entire stadium. That, and the sound of the annoucner over the intercom.  
  
"The cars are moving to the starting line as the flagger is climbing up the stand."  
  
Mia, Dom, Letty, and Vince leaned over the railing of thier stand, eagerly watching the line up. "Which car is your dads?" Letty asked the Teretto's. "That one," Dom said, pointing to number 27, a red checkered stock car with the logo of his team emblazened on the passanger side.  
  
"The flagger is grabbing the starting flag, which is green, just to remind you folks."  
  
"Yea, yea, yea...we know the drill, get on with it already," Vince called up obnoxiously.   
  
"He's giving the signal to prepare their engines for the race....the flag is waved, and there they go folks!"  
  
Screams of excitement and enthusiasm erupted from the stands as the squeal of tires and the roar of engines slammed thier ears. "Almost immediately, Teretto 27 is out in front, followed closely by 18 Linhurst!"  
  
"Alrighty, that's the start of it...it'll be about an hour before we need to come back to see the final laps," Dom told everyone as he turned from the track. "I'm hungry again...let's go get some more of those sandwiches."  
  
Nodding thier heads, Mia, Letty, and Vince walked behind Dominic out of the stands and towards the BBQ sandwich stand, on the way discussing plans for after the race.  
"Linhurst gets his first yellow flag of the day!" The P.A. called out as the four race fans sat on Mr. Terettos truck, eating and drinking thier second lunch of the day.  
  
"That's a first," Vince said, wiping his mouth, "he's a pretty clean player, wonder what's goin' on with him." Dom shrugged his shoulders. "Probably no big deal," he stated, looking at Letty. "Yellow flag means that there's some danger on the track or it might mean that one of the racers is getting a little out of hand...I guess he passed under the yellow flag or somethin' you're-"  
  
"-supposed to stop or slow down immediately. Yea, yea, yea, Dom, I get it. I watch racing too, ya know?" Letty told him, an annoyed tone to her voice. Dom raised his eyebrows but said nothing to her and continued to eat his sandwich.  
  
At first, no-one near the food stands heard the crashing noise. The rush of the engines was to loud for anyone to hear anything other than the zooming sound of passing cars. But everyone heard the announcment that followed.  
  
"Folks, we ask that you please remain in your seats. We have a red flag out on the track. Again, please remain in your seats."  
  
Furrowing her brow, Mia looked towards the track. "Dom...what's that?" she asked pointing to a thin black cloud. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Dom looked in the direction that his sister was pointing. "Looks like smoke..." he said. Crumeling up his sandwich wrapper and grabbing his drink, he through both into the trash can and gestured for his friends and sister to follow him. "Let's see what's up; maybe we can get Dad to come tell us what happened."  
  
Just as they were reaching the VIP stands, a huge explosion racked the area. A huge cloud of smoke puffed it's way up into the air, and the tips of flames were just able to be seen over the heads of people that were standing up, trying to see what had happened. On the track, racers and ther crewmembers had taken cover behind thier respective cars, covering thier heads in case debris hit them.  
  
"What the fuck?!" Vince shouted, instinctively sheilding the girls, Dom doing the same. "I don't know...let's get a closer look, come on!" he told them, and he ran towards the front of the stands, the others following closely behind.  
  
In the middle of the track, about 30 yards away, was a pyre, from what Dom could tell, a car had caught on fire. "Jesus...how the hell did that happen?" he wondered aloud.  
  
"Dom?"  
  
Still watching the burning car, Dom didn't hear his sister. She had to tap him on the shoulder and say his name again, but it was the worried sound her voice carried that made Dom take notice.  
  
"What is it?" he asked. Mia looked out on the track. The crew that was gathered around the car...  
  
"Isn't that Daddy's crew? They're closest to it, they've got 27's on thier backs..." Mia said quietly, fear in her voice.  
  
"Shit!" Dom, not waiting to hear anymore, vaulted over the stands and landed somewhat heavily on the ground. Mia was right behind him, and following her was Vince, going down first so that he could catch Letty as she dropped to the ground. Almost immediately, security crews were swarming around them. All four young people struggled against them, trying to get to the car, but in the end, it was the next announcment that made them all freeze.  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I've just gotten word of the number of the car..." the announcer paused for a moment, almost as though he were trying to swallow a lump in his throat. "The car is number 27, driven by Antony Teretto. Security asks that all in the Teretto party proceed to the race officials for further information on the accident."  
  
After the annoucnement, all hell broke loose on the track. 


	4. The Vengeful and the Furious

The following week for the Torettos and thier friends was the most somber of any of thier lives. Funeral arangments were being made with the help of Dom and Mia's fathers pit crew, and they were also in and out of the house at all hours of the day and night, making sure that anything that the now orphaned Torttos's needed was provided immediately. However, they weren't the only ones running in and out of the house.  
  
Dominic and Mia's mother was no where to be found, and although Dom would be turning 18 within a few months, his sister would need somewhere to live as she was only 15. Childrens services were debating on several decisions. Letty's parents had already offered for Mia to live with them, and they had shown themselves competant to take on another child in the house. However, both sets of grandparents to Dom and Mia were being looked at carefully, each being scrutinized by the child services to make sure that if Mia was forced to go with them that they would be able to provide for her.  
  
And of course, in the center of all the controversy were Dom and Mia themselves. Both often stayed in eachothers rooms, neither was alone for very long. They couldn't stand to be down in the living room, in the kitchen, and Dom hadn't been in the garage since his father had been pronounced dead. All of these places reminded the brother and sister to much of thier father.  
  
Vince and Letty stayed with them as much as they possibly could, making sure that the sometimes over zealous crew members and child-protective service officials didn't crowd sibblings to much. At one point, the crew members became so over-bearing that Vince hauled them all outside the door, telling them to back off of the Torettos for a couple of days. Letty watched all of this from the top of the stairs, marveling at Vinces strength and compassion; he didn't show the latter that much.  
The funeral that Sunday was a small affair. Family and close friends of the Torettos and the pit crew were the only ones that attended. The service was held outside in the warm air and bright sunshine, the fallen racers favorite kind of weather. A few people stood and said a few words about the loving father, including Dom and Mias grandfather, but other than that, the ceremony was over within an hour. No-one wanted to linger longer than was necessary.  
  
As the guests were leaving Mia, Letty, Dom, and Vince lagged behind, shaking the hands of some friends and giving hugs to others, thanking those that came for thier support. As soon as everyone had left, the four young people piled into Vinces car and drove to the Torettos home.  
Vince pulled easily into the driveway, careful not to make the ride to bumpy as he so often did. The all got out slowly, stiffly, as though they'd been sitting in the car for three hours instead of 30 minutes. Dominic made a bee-line for the garage, slamming the side door behind him. Vince started to follow, but Mia held up a hand. "Let him alone, Vince," she told him quietly, "just give him time. He'll talk when he wants." She gave Dom as reassuring a look as she could through her glassy red eyes, then turned and walked up the walkway and into the house. Letty and Vince followed her quietly, slowly shutting the door behind them.  
  
Mia had fallen onto the couch, her head buried into a pillow. She wasn't crying anymore, her eyes had run out of cries for the time being. All she was doing was staring ahead at the television set, but both Vince and Letty could tell that she wasn't actually seeing anything in front of her. Apparently Mia wasn't hearing anything as well, because a huge crash came from inside the garage, followed by a slew of curse words that would have made Dominics strict Roman Catholic grandmother gawk at him in surprise.  
  
The one who did look towards the garage though was Letty, and although Mia had said to leave him be, Letty didn't think that that was the best thing to do at the time. Walking into the kitchen, she paused at the door leading out to the garage, then, cautiously and quietly opened it slowly and peeked inside.  
  
Dom was keeled over the hood of the car that him and his father had been working on together for the past three years. His head was bowed, and Letty could hear the quiet sobs that were coming from him. For a moment, she just stood there, not knowing what to do at all. If she went forward to try to comfort him, Letty was almost positive that Dom would either shove her away or put up a tough exterior...  
  
But she couldn't let him stand there alone and cry, she couldn't turn her back on him.  
  
Slowly, she decsended the wooden steps into the garage and walked over towards him. She stopped a couple of feet away from him, still giving him is personal space. "Dom?" she asked in a whisper. She heard him breath a little fast, sniff a little harder. He was trying to stop the tears.  
  
"Yea?" he finally answered, though Letty could still hear the lump that was taking up residence in Dom's throat. "Are you going to be okay?" She asked him. She didn't know what to say, and she was half expecting Dominic to look up at her as though she'd just gotten home from the Loony Bin. But he didn't. The moon-light streaming in from the windows of the garage door illuminated Dom's nodding head, and also allowed Letty to see his hands wiping the tears from his eyes.  
  
"I'll be okay," he stated. Letty nodded her head and ran her hands up and down the sides of her legs, a nervous fidgiting habit that she hated.  
  
"Are you gonna come back inside?" she asked after a few moments of silence. Dom shook his head, sliding the wrench that was in his hand up and down, twirling it at some points. "I'm gonna chill out in here...I'll come in when I'm ready," he told her. Letty nodded. "Okay...well, I guess...goodnight then," she told him, backing towards the stairs and crossing her arms as she did. Dom watched her go, then called out, "Sleep well, Let."  
  
"You too," she answered back. She gave him a smile that he more than likely wouldn't be able to see because of the darkness, and then went through the door into the kitchen, shutting it quietly.  
  
She walked back into the living room, a somewhat vacant expression on her face. "He okay?" Vince asked, who was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa that Mia was on. Letty nodded her head. "He said he'll be okay," she answered, nodding to Mia on the couch. "She asleep?" Vince nodded. "Yea, she kinda passed out on me a few minutes ago," he stood up and grabbed a blanket that was on the couch and drapped it over Mia's sleeping form. "I guess we better get some sleep," he told her. Letty nodded her head. "Yea, I guess we better..." she looked towards the door to the garage, and then at Mia. "I think I'm going to spend the night down here," she decided. Vince nodded his head.  
  
"I'll join you," he looked at Mia, then, walked up stairs to Doms room. When he came back down, he had covers and pillows, and he tossed one of each to Letty. "Thanks," she told him, getting into one of the chairs and curling up with the pillow and blanket.  
  
"No problem," Vince answered, lying down beside the bottom of the couch. Letty smiled. "You know, I honestly can't figure out why Mia or any other girl for that matter is not interested in you,. There aren't many guys who would do what you're doing right now," Letty told him. Vince gave a small chuckle. "Well, I guess I can answer that question for you with a question of my own. Why aren't you crushin' on me, Let?" he asked, turning to face her with a knowing look on his face. Letty blinked once and then responded, "Because I like Dom."  
  
"Exactly, because you like Dom," Vince answered. Letty furrowed her brow, and it seemed as though Vince could feel her confusion. "Every girl that me and Dom come across, the girl automatically looks at Dom, they kinda forget about me, ya know?" However, there was no pity in his voice for himself. He stated the truth as though it were something he'd accepted years ago.   
  
"Oh...well, I uh..." Letty struggled for the words to say, "I'm sure there are piles of girls out there just waiting to meet you, Vince," she assured him. "Just because Mia and I don't see you that way doesn't mean that other girls won't either...it's just that we've known each other for so long, ya know? It's like you're my big brother or something."  
  
"Yea, I understand," Vince said, "and don't feel bad here Let, but I could never feel that way about you for the same reason. You're my kid sister ya know? Besides, you're crushin' on my best friend. It would be kinda wierd if I started having those feelings for you, ya know?" A giggle came from the other side of the room. "Yea, no doubts here," Letty told him, turning over to face the back of the chair. "G'night Vinnie boy," she called over her shoulder.  
  
"Night Let," Vince answered, turning to face the couch side.  
  
Within minutes, the two were fast asleep. They didn't even hear the door in the kitchen open, and then the front door close a few moments later.  
Letty squinted as the sun shone through the living room window the next morning. She stubbornly tried to pull the covers up over her head to block out the suns rays, but the blanket was so thin it wasn't helping much. With a sigh, she threw off the cover and looked up at the ceiling. The day was going to be Hell for some reason. She didn't know why, but she figured that Dom's pent up anger at the fact that his father was now dead would have something to do with it. Mia and him would be at eachothers throats like bears today.  
  
Turning over, she looked at the two still sleeping forms on the couch and floor. Mias arm had dropped from the surface of the couch and was now almost touching the carpet. Vince was still turned towards her, but at one point during the night, he'd brought his hand up to his chin, and now, it was almost touching Mia's. Letty grinned a little as she moved to a seating position and stretched her arms up in the air. That was to cute. She had to get a picture. Quickly and quietly, she got up and tip-toed around the two bodies and ran up the stairs, going into Mia's room and grabbing a camera off of her dresser. Running back down the stairs, she turned the camera on and begain loading it for another picture to be taken, and was just about to snap the photo when the doorbell rang. Distracted for a moment, Letty looked up at the door and then down at Vince and Mia. They weren't going to look like that forever. So, she snapped the picture, then went hurridly to the door and threw it opened.  
  
There stood two LAPD officers. Wearing very grim expressions. Letty furrowed her brow. She'd seen enough cops over the past week to make her want to puke. But they were more than likely here to check up on Mia and Dom, so she opened her eyes to make her seem more awake and put a smile on her face.  
  
"Can I help you guys?" she asked casually.  
  
"Yes ma'am, is Dominic Toretto at home right now?"  
  
Letty nodded. "I think he is...I don't know where though...he's kinda kept to himself since...well, since everything happened last week." She opened up the screen door and beckoned them to come inside. Walking into the living room, she shook Vince and Mia awake. "Guys, come on...more cops, they want to talk to Dom." Vince sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looked warily at the police officers. "Why this early? What else do they want, huh?" he asked gruffly. Letty shook her head, but Mia had the since to look at the clock that was on the VCR in the room. "Uh...Vince, it's 1:30 in the afternoon," she told him.  
  
"Well, shit."  
  
"Are you Mia Toretto?" Came one of the officers suddenly. Mia, wide awake and alert now nodded her head. "Yes, I am. What do you need?"  
  
"Ma'am we have a slight problem on our hands." Mia furrowed her brow, as did Letty and Vince.  
  
"I don't understand. What's the slight problem, what's going on?" Mia asked, standing up now and walking towards the officers. One of them dug a piece of paper out from his back pocket.  
  
"This is an arrest warrent for your brother, Miss Toretto."  
  
"WHAT?!" Came all three voices at once.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about, my brother didn't do anything!" Mia exclaimed taking the warrent from the officer.  
  
"I'm sorry Ma'am, but I'm afraid he did. Early this morning, a man by the name of Lechner was registerd at Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. He was beaten up severely with what appears to be some kind of wrench. Mr. Lechner identified your brother as his attacker."  
  
At those words, Mia promptly fainted. 


	5. Another Toretto is Taken

The frinzy that followed was unlike anyone close to the Torettos had ever seen. Within a half hour, it seemed as though the entire LAPD swarming around the house, bringing with them all sorts of warrents and paper work that allowed them to search the house. Knowing that Mia wasn't fully capable to deal with all of this, Letty immediately called her parents, who came over as soon as they heard what was going on in the house-hold. When Letty's parents arrived, they quickly made phone calls to Mr. Torettos pit-crew, the lawyers that were over seeing the will, the Toretto's own lawyer, and anyone else that they could think of.  
  
Meanwhile, Vince and Letty were trying to console a shaking, grieving, and obviously angry Mia. At present, she was screaming a detective who was standing in front of her, flanked by an officer that seemed as though the screaming was hurting his ears.  
  
"-crazy bastards! My brother wouldn't go and bash someone over the head like this! You're all crazy! Lechners' lost his mind!" She tried to wrench herself out of Vince and Lettys grasp, but the teens held her arms firmly to her sides as she continued to look up into the faces of the cops.  
  
"First he kills my father, and then he starts accusing my brother of assault and battery?! What the hell else is going to happen? Am I going to be accused of an armed robbery?!!?"   
  
"Letty, Vince, take Mia upstairs, she doesn't need to be down here," Letty's father said, coming into the living room and sliding a hand onto his daughters shoulder. The detective look as though he was going to protest, but then Letty's mother came out. "You can't expect to get anything out of her in the state that she's in, gimme a break," she bluntly told the cops. Not knowing what else to do, the officers backed off and allowed Mia to be taken up stairs by Letty, Vince, and Letty's mother. The entourage was on the fourth step when the front door opened.   
  
There stood Dominic Toretto.  
  
And he had a wrench in his hand.  
  
It all happened in slow motion for the teenagers. Mia screamed for her brother and, with a power that neither Letty nor Vince would later be able to explain, threw the two off of her, running down the steps and into her brothers arms. She clung to him desperately, sobbing into his chest, mumbeling incoherantly. She locked her hands around his back so that the intruding police would have to really work if they wanted her off of thier suspect.  
  
Seeing thier Wanted on the threshold of his own front door, the LAPD immediately drew weapons. The officers that were near Vince, Letty, and her parents, came between the four and Dom. Even if they wanted to get to Dom, they wouldn't have been able to.  
  
Shouts of "Mr. Toretto, put the wrench down," and "Get her off of him," and "careful men, he's armed" were heard for what seemed to be about five days, but really, it was only five minutes. Eventually, everything was silenced, until the only thing anyone could hear was Mias heart-wrenching sobs against her brother.  
  
"Mia..." Dominic gently and protectively wrapped his arms around his sister, the wrench still in his hand. He knew that as long as he had the weapon there, he wouldn't be rushed by the cops. There would be to great a risk of Mia getting injured in the process from the cold metal. Mia only sniffled at her name, still holding onto her brother as though he were her life preserver.  
  
"Mia, you have to let me go...you have to let go, Mia," Dom whispered, running his free fingers tenderly through his sisters hair. She shook her head vehemntly against his chest and held him tighter. "No," she muttered, raising her tear streaked tan face to his. "I won't...you didn't do anything...you didn't do anything, right Dom?" She asked.   
  
Dominics heart broke then. His sister looking at him like that, as though whatever the answer he would give would be the difference between her giving up or standing strong. He hung his head slightly, closing his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. Behind the mass of cops, Vince and Letty watched with wide eyes, both knowing that Dom had indeed been the one that had committed the crime. But neither was about to see him go to jail for it.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mia..." Dom said quietly. He suddenly dropped the wrench to the floor-  
  
And the cops were on him like bees on honey.  
  
Again the screaming. Again the bitter yelling, the fighting, the struggeling. Letty and Vince raced forward, Letty to catch Mia who was going into another fainting spell, and Vince, who was trying to somehow get to Dom. What he got was a nice shove against the back wall by two officers. Finally, Vince stopped struggeling, and only when Dom was safely in the police car did they release him. Knowing now that there was nothing that he could do to help Dom, Vince furiously walked over to Mia and knelt at her side. She was out like a light again, but tears were still coming down her face. Vince wiped them away with his thumb and looked at Letty.  
  
"Don't anybody have any decency anymore?!" he asked, almost yelled. Letty said nothing, only tried to get Mia to her feet so that she could be dragged to the couch. Vince, seeing that Letty was struggeling, put an arm on her back and one under her knees and lifted her up, carrying her to the sofa in the living room. As he did that, Letty looked around. The house was in shambles. The police had been extremely thourough when they were searching for what ever itw as they were searching for. So thourough in fact that one would think the atomic bomb had gone off inside the living room and kitchen.  
  
Letty looked up at her parents, who came over to her immediately.  
  
"I think you should come on home now, Let," her father told her. Letty began to protest, but her mother held up a hand. "No arguments. Home. Now. We have alot to do, alot to plan, we need to discuss many things." Her mother nodded her head towards Mia, and Letty understood. Since the Torettos father died, Letty's parents had been seriously thinking about taking on Mia as thier foster child until she turned 18. But now, it looked like they would have no choice. If they didn't try to get custody of Mia, the girl would go to her grandparents in Florida. Letty knew that Mia hated the Eastern Seaboard. She'd go insane. Her friends were here, as well as her family.  
  
Dom was here.  
  
But now, Dom was gone.  
  
"Come on, Letty," her father gently pushed her out of the front door, he and his wife following.  
When they arrived at thier own house, Letty's mother tried to get her daughter to eat something, anything, but Letty begged off, saying that she wasn't hungry. "If I put anything in my stomach right now, it'll come right back up again within seconds," she told them both. Her parents only sighed and nodded, understand that thier daughter was in a stressful position at the moment.  
  
"So...what's gonna happen with Mia?" Letty asked. Her father looked up from his beer and then at his wife.   
  
"Well, we think we've got a good chance at gettin' custody of her for the remainder of her adolecsent years...we have the economic and emotional means to provide substantially for you. We can do the same with Mia, no problem. Plus, she's 15 years old right now...the courts will give her more of a say in where she goes because she's older."  
  
"If we can prove that we have steady jobs, a good home life, if we can prove that we're safe economically, then we have a good shot at Mia getting to stay with us," Letty's mother finished up, taking some of the dishes off the of the table and dumping them into the sink. "The social worker is coming tomorrow to talk to us. We'll know more by then."  
  
Letty nodded her head, then looked at her father.  
  
"I'm gonna go for a walk or somethin'" she told him. Getting up sluggishly, she opened up the backdoor and walked into her backyard, and then out to the street. Looking both ways, she decided to go to the left. Towards Doms's house.  
  
Once she got there, she didn't know what she wanted to do. She didn't want to go inside the house again, that was for sure. Enough drama and sadness were cooped up in there to last ten life times. Plus, Vince and Mia were more than likely asleep, and knew how little rest Mia had been getting over the past couple of days or so. She didn't want to disturb either one of them  
  
So, she headed for the garage. Luckily, it hadn't been closed all the way, and Letty was just small enough to squeeze under the opening between the concrete driveway and the garage door.   
  
Once inside, she took a good look around. Dom's anger was clear. Tools were scattered about all over the floor. Oil cans, rags, knuts and bolts, screwdrivers, hammers, anything that was supposed to be on a shelf was now on the ground. Walking up to the car that Dom and his father had been working on together, Letty gently let her fingers trail over the shiney black surface of the automobile. A choked feeling made itself known in her throat.  
  
It wasn't long after that that she was leaning against the drivers side front tire, letting all the tears and emotion flow from her that she'd kept bottled up inside for a week.  
Vince stared at the ceiling as he lay on the floor for the second morning in a row...or was it the third? He couldn't remember. All he could remember was Dom being hand-cuffed and shoved into the back of a police car. He remembered Mias screaming, crying, shouting...things had tumbled from her mouth that he had never heard from her before. Yawning, he blinked his eyes once or twice and then rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He sat up a bit and looked at Mia who was lying on the couch, breathing deeply. He could still see the tear streaks on her face, but he didn't wipe them from her cheeks, fearing that he would wake her up. Lord knew that she needed to sleep at the moment.  
  
He stood up and stretched, swinging his arms around to loosen them up a bit. He looked around the room. Everything was as it was before they went to sleep. Disheveled. Scattered about. Wrecked. The cops had really done a job on the house, searching for Dom, searching for the wrench, and anything else that they thought would be applicable to the case that they were now working on.  
  
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Vince walked towards the garage and opened the door softly, knowing that Dominics anger had gotten the better of him in the garage. Stepping carefully onto the concrete, he walked around, picking up a few stray items here and there and then placing them back in thier respective places on the shelves.   
  
He almost tripped over Letty as he was doing his rounds.  
  
"Letty!? Girl, what are you-" he stopped speaking quickly as he realized that she was still asleep. Sighing, Vince bent down and poked her on the shoulder gently, trying to get her attention. After a few moments, Letty's eyes began to flutter open, and from the look on her face, Vince could tell that she didn't know exactly where she was.  
  
"You're in Dominics garage," he told her. Letty just looked at him, then rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "You...you mean I fell asleep...in here?" she asked, her voice somewhat low and raspy. Vince nodded, walking to the side and helping her up by lifting her up by her arms. "Yep...ya fell asleep in here...of all places," he looked at her in confusion. "Why didnt' you just knock on the door or come inside or something. The kitchen door is always left unlocked, you know that."   
  
Letty shook her head. "It's not like I was planning on spending the night in here Vince," she told him, leaning against the car and looking up at him, "I just...just came in here to think is all." She remained quiet for a while, rubbing the sides of her arms absentmindidly.  
  
"Well...your folks are probably running around in circles looking for you. You should probably head home. Come on over for lunch later though," he told her. Letty nodded. "You makin' the food?" she asked. Vince nodded.   
  
"I'll be sure to eat at home then."  
  
"Shut up and get out of here," Vince told her, playfully shoving her towards the garage door. A small smile crossed Lettys face as she walked towards the door leading to the driveway. "I'll see you in a few hours," she called to Vince before she went through the door. He watched her until her form dissapered from his sight. Sighing to himself, shaking his head at a loss, he walked around to the kitchen door and opened it up, pausing to lean against it before he stepped into the house that held the grief and torment of the past week or so. 


	6. Will the Defendant Please Rise

Soon after Dom was arrested, being that there was no adult in the house, the social workers began visiting Mia, her grandparents, and Letty's family. For two weeks, deleberations went on about who would have custody of Mia, who would provide for her for the last three years of her adolescent life. Finally, after the negotiation period was over, an agreement was made. Mias grandparents would technially hold custody of Mia until her 18th birthday. However, Mia would be residing with Letty and her family, with a $300 support check being sent to Lettys parents everymonth. $100 would be given to Mia for her spending purposes.  
  
In any other situation, Letty and Mia would have been ecstatic about the decision, but all Mia could do for the time being was silently nod her head a couple of times and give small, fake smiles to the social workers, lawyers, and everyone else who was involved in securing the future for the next three years. Letty hadn't sat in on the negotiations at all, and when she was told that Mia would be living with her for the rest of her teen years, instead of jumping up and down and shouting for joy, she simply gave a meager "okay" and stood back a little bit, watching the adults have last minute dicussions.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
With that agreement made and signed by both parties, Letty, Vince, and Letty's parents began to move Mia into her new home. Boxes of clothes, books, school things, and other belongings were put into the guest room down the hall from Letty's room, and soon, the girls and Vince set to organizing the bedroom to Mias tastes. Letty's parents offered to paint the room, but Mia told them no, that they'd done more than enough for her already.  
  
For about two to three weeks, Mia was busying herself with organizing her room. On top of this, she was getting calls at least twice a day from her brothers lawyers, the socialworkers, and from Dom himself. Everytime he called, Mia struggled to keep from breaking down completely in tears. If Letty and Vince were around, they stood near her, ready to help if the emotions became to much for her to take.  
  
The weeks leading up to the beginning of Dom's courtdate were filled with tension and fear for everyone. Mia was constantly on edge, staying quiet most of the time, only speaking if spoken to, and even then, the answers were almost always one word. Letty and her parents allowed the girl her space, not pushing her to do much of anything, except eat and sleep.  
  
Finally, the trial date came. At 7:00 AM on August 9, Mia, Letty, and her parents left thier home and drove down to the Los Angeles County Courthouse. As soon as they turned into the street, they could see news vans, reporters, television cameras, and just on lookers crowding on the sidewalks. Letty gaped in awe, as did Mia. "Stock car racing is this big?" Letty asked her friend. Mia nodded her head numbly. "Apparently so," she answered, looking out the window at the mass of fans that had shown up. It seemed that there was an even number of fans for each the defendant and the plantiff. The crowd was littered with people holding up signs, each supporting and berating Dominic Toretto. Mia, not able to turn her head from the window which showed the fans against Dom, put her hand over her eyes. Letty laid a comforting hand on her arm.  
  
"It's alright, Mia," she told her, giving her a squeeze. "He'll get through this. It'll be over soon." Mia nodded her head, but still kept her hand over her eyes, biting her lip to keep the tears from flowing.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
As they entered the courtroom, the first thing that Letty noticed was the ammount of people that were sitting on the Plantiffs side. She could see what she thought was Lechners family, all of them sitting up, straight backed, somber expressions on their faces. As she walked down the asile, she could make out a familiar person, and just as she, Mia, and her parents were parallel to the pew that he was sitting in, Vince turned to face them, anger, and yet a since up worry on his face. "Hey," he said shortly. Mia nodded her head at him and stepped inside the pew first, Letty following behind her, and her parents bringing up the rear. "Have you seen Dom yet?" Letty asked, leaning a little across Mia in order to speak in low tones to Vince. The latter shook his head, and Lettys shoulders sagged. Mia simply stared straight ahead, as though she couldn't see anything in the courtroom other than the defendants chair right in front of her.  
  
"Have you seen my Grandparents yet?" she asked Vince. This time, he nodded. "Yea, they'll be comin' back in a few minutes. Went outside for some fresh air, I think." Mia nodded and folded her hands in her lap. From that point on until Dom came out, the three teen's were silent.  
  
Finally, the door on the left side leading into the courtroom opened, and Dom stepped out, being led by two LAPD officers. Mias breath caught in her throat as she watched her brother being escorted to his seat. Gone were his baggy clothes and under shirts. Now he wore an orange jump-suit looking outfit. Although he was handcuffed, Letty, Vince, and Mia were releaved to see that they had not shackled his ankles. As he walked towards them, Dom gave his sister a reassuring smile, and although Mia returned the smile as best as she could, she still had tears shining in her eyes. Dom stopped in front of them, almost close enough for Mia to touch him, which she actually tried, but Letty and Vince held her arms firmly, and Dom shook his head, his eyes telling her to calm herself.  
  
"All rise!" came the Balliffs voice suddenly. Dom turned away from his family members and faced the judge that was now walking to his seat. "Court is now in session with the honorable Judge Harold Yawltow presiding," the baliff continued, at the end of the sentance turning to Judge Yawltow. "Parties have been sworn in, Your Honor." He handed the judge a folder and stepped back towards the door where the jury box was.  
  
"You may be seated," the judge said. A rustle of seats and legs followed as the court sat down, and waited for the judge to begin the proceedings.  
  
"Your honor, this is the matter of Lechner vs. Toretto," the baliff called after the court had seated themselves. The judge nodded his head. "Thankyou, Officer Remeriez," he said in a somewhat tired voice. He then looked up at the prosecuting side and the defence side.  
  
"Defense, would you please rise?"  
  
Dom and his court appointed attorney rose. Letty noticed that his attorney had a comforting hand on Doms back. "Defense, how does your client plead?" A silence fell over the courtroom as those gathered waited for the lawyers response.  
  
"We plead guilty, your honor."  
  
"Oh god...oh god..." Mia murmered, making the sign of a cross on her chest and raising her eyes to the ceiling. Letty and Vince put comforting arms around her, whispering reassurances to her.  
  
"Your client pleads no contest to one charge of assult and battery and mallicious wounding?"  
  
"Yes, your Honor."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Dom turned around slightly as he heard tears from behind him. His sisters head was between her knees, long dark brown hair creating a curtain between her and him. He wanted so much right then to vault over the low wooden wall and hug his little sister. Unfortunately though, if he did that, he would be wrestled to the ground by about five cops that were standing in strategic positions just in case he did such a thing.  
  
He looked up at Vince. He was busy at the moment, consoling Mia, and then at Letty. He was surprised that she was staring back at him, even more surprised to see that her eyes were somewhat glazed over. Letty didn't cry. Not unless someone died....  
  
Dom slapped that thought out of his head and gave Letty a wane smile. He saw and heard her sniff the tears away, and she cleared her throat, giving him a small smile before turning her attention to Mia as well. Dom felt the hand of his lawyer on his shoulder, and he turned back reluctantly to face the judge.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Four hours later, because of the guilty plea, Judge Yawltow had come to his conclusion. He entered the courtroom slowly, a manilla folder in his left hand, and glanced warily over at the plantiff, the defendant, and the guests of the court. His eyes rested on the small cluster that was behind the defendant. No doubt his family and friends, as one girl with long brown hair was sitting there, staring at him as though he were the devil himself. The judge sighed lightly and made his way up to the bench, opening the folder as he went.  
  
Sentancing was never easy.  
  
But then again, it wasn't supposed to be.  
  
"Would the Defendant please rise?" he asked, his voice echoing off the walls of the courtroom.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Mia firmly grasped both Vince and Lettys hands, her eyes rivited on the judge. She knew that Dom wouldn't be getting off the hook, she also knew that he would not be forced to pay a simple fine or the medical bills and go home scott free. She knew that he would more than likely see a juvinille detention home until his eighteenth birthday. And she was prepared for that.  
  
"Mr. Toretto," the judge began, "I believe that you had no intention of doing as much damage as you did to Mr. Lechner. I believe that. You were acting in a moment of passion and grief for the death of your father. I can understand that. However...at the age of 17, you are old enough to know that you can't take the law into your own hands the way you did a few weeks ago. That is what I can not let slide. I must see justice done for Mr. Lechner, as understanding as I may be about the situation." He cleared his throat.  
  
"Therefore, it is the decision of this court that you, Dominic Toretto, spend three years at Lompoc Prison. I want you to know that this is not the full penalty under the law. The full jail term is five years. However, if you remain on good behavior, you will be eligable for paroll in two years time."   
  
Mia was by no means prepared for this. She had expected Dom to finish out the last three our four months of his teenage years in a juvinille detention home, not in an adult prison. She sagged against Letty, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to breath as evenly as she could.  
  
But the judges words just kept echoing through her head. She wouldn't be seeing her brother for at least two years. She wouldn't be able to yell at him, wouldn't be able to laugh at his smart-ass jokes. No fights about whose turn it was to do the dishes or clean the bathroom, or even who got the last bottle of coke in the fridge. No more of that.  
  
Not for two years.  
  
She barely heard the judge dismiss the court, she could only hear the cries coming from her mouth. Every few seconds, a murmered, "it'll be okay, Mia," came through, but other than that, all she heard was her own sobbing.  
  
Then, two hands fell on her shoulders. Two big, strong hands, hands that she had known since she'd been born 15 years ago. Mia looked up slowly, into the face of her brother. Meakly, she stood up, and Dom gathered her to him, his strong arms seeming to lock her in place, and hers doing the same for him. But the moment had to end. Dom gently unwraveled himself from his sisters grasp. She struggled with him, but she was to far gone emotionally to have any strength left in her. Letty and Vince held her up as Dom was escorted across the courtroom and to the exit.  
  
And with a slam of the door, he was gone. 


	7. One Down, One to Go

It had been a year since the trial. A year since Dom had been taken to Lompoc and locked away in a cell half the size of his room. He looked outside the barred window at the recreation area where group C were having their daily excersize and games. Dom was in group E. Each group had two hours outside. Another two hours in the 18 year olds cell didn't matter to him.  
  
Why should it? He'd spent a year there already...  
  
Sighing, he sat down on his two inch thick cot and rested his elbows on his knees, staring at the cell across from him. Jason was across from him, sitting in the same position. The two young adults often played this game with eachother, seeing who could stare the longest without cracking a smile.  
  
This time, Dom won.  
  
"So, what are you so happy about over there Jason?" he asked his friend. The boy stood up and walked over to his bars so that he could drap his arms out into the asile. "I got notice today that I'm getting out soon," he said, grinning at Dom. Dom raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. "Very nice," he commented, coming to mimick Jason on the bars. "How soon?" he asked, leaning his forehead against the bars.  
  
"About two weeks. My parole went through. Apparently, I'm decent enough to go back into society now," he continued, chuckling at his joke. Dom nodded his head. "Of course you are man. I don't know one guy in here who doesn't deserve to get more than you."  
  
Jason nodded his head at Dom. "'Cept one." He looked at Dom pointidly. Dom smirked and looked down at the floor, shaking his head. "I've got at least a year left," he informed his jail mate. "Yea, but you'll get out. You've been well behaved, not one write up for you, you don't give anyone any trouble around here...you'll get out Dominic. They'd be crazy not to let you go."  
  
The mentioned nodded his head at Jason and went to go sit back on his cot in the same position that he was in before.  
  
"Don't worry about it Dom," Jason called to him, going to lean against the back wall of his cell.   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Letty! Where is my bathing suit?!" Mia called to her friend from the top of the stairs. Letty, who was in the kitchen, groaned and put the box of cereal that she was holding down on the table. "I don't know, it was on the bathroom hook the last time I checked," she called up the stairs.   
  
"Well, it's not there."  
  
"Well, I don't know where it is...maybe it walked off somewhere!"  
  
"Yea, probably into your bed-room!"  
  
Letty stuck her tongue out at Mia. "You can go ahead and look in there," she began to climb up the stairs, "you're not gonna find it." Mia raised an eyebrow at the girl and then turned and headed towards her friends bedroom. Letty shook her head, grinning the entire way. She wasn't going to find it in her room...  
  
Wait a second.  
  
Letty bit her lip as Mia opened up the door into her room and flicked on the light switch. "Hey, uh Mia?" Letty called to her, walking towards her own room where Mia was standing in the door way. "What?" Dom's sister asked, going further into the room. "Maybe it's downstairs...in the wash...you know that mom went on a laundry spree earlier this week..." Letty said half-heartedly. She knew where the bathing suit was. It was on her bed. She'd used it to go to a pool party that Mia hadn't wanted to attend.   
  
"Not in here, huh?" Mia said, catching a shade of purple on the bed that did not go with the colors of the comforter that was on Lettys sleeping area. She picked up the top part of her bathing suit and turned around, glaring at Letty with an eyebrow raised as if to say, "What is this?" Letty gave a pearly white grin and waved at Mia. "Well, I couldn't find mine, what did you want me to do?" She asked in defense of her actions. Mia only shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We gotta go shopping for new ones anyways..." She clicked her tongue against her cheek and then looked at Letty.  
  
"Do you have to do anything today?"  
  
Letty shook her head, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "What're you thinkin' about?" she asked.   
  
"Well, I have money from my job," Mia began, flopping on Lettys bed and leaning back on her elbows. "How much money do you have?"  
  
"I have $40 bucks of my own money...why?" Letty asked, stepping into the room now, her brow furrowed a little. "You think you could bum another $20 off so that you can get a new bating suit?" Mia asked. Her friend shrugged her shoulders. "I can try, hang on, they're out in the garage," she answered, leaving the room and Mia. The latter flopped back fully on the bed and sighed to herself. Rolling over on her stomach, Mias eyes caught site of a framed picture of her brother sitting on the car that he and his father were fixing up so that Dom would be able to race her when his time came. Gently, she reached out her fingers and lightly traced her brothers face with them.  
  
She missed him.  
  
Badly.  
  
"Hey, I'm good. They gave me $40 instead of $20-hey, Mi, you alright?" Letty said as she came back into the room. Mias head shot towards Letty and after the initial shock of her coming back into the room wore off, she nodded her head slowly. "Yea, I'm okay." She got off the bed and came to stand next to Letty. "I just miss him, that's all," she smiled at her friend. Letty nodded in understanding. "Me too...but a year from today, he'll be home."  
  
"Hopefully," Mia said, walking down the hall to her room that Letty's parents had helped her set up a year back, "that's only his parole term. If they don't let him go at the parole hearing, then he has to stay in longer."  
  
"But he'll get out," Letty followed her to her room and hung inside the doorway a little bit, "we haven't gotten any word of misbehavior from him or the lawyers. Everyone says that he's doing good in there." Mia nodded her head, searching through her mass of clothes to find something appropriate to go to the mall in. "I know," she said taking off her raggidy shirt and putting on a blue speghetti strapped one. She turned around and nodded again to Letty, as though to reassure herself that Dom would be coming home in a year. "Come on, go get ready to go. We've got some shopping to do!" Letty rolled her eyes and walked to her room, quickly changing into some cargo shorts and a black sleevless shirt of her own. When she came out, Mia only shook her head.  
  
"What?" Letty asked defensively, splaying her hands in front of her.  
  
"Nothing, nothing at all," Mia answered, going down the stairs with Letty right at her feet, but she turned around when she reached the bottom. "Maybe you can bum some more money off your parents so that you can get some more...feminine clothes?" Mia suggested, leaning against the front door.   
  
"Christ sakes, I am not going to ask my parents for anymore money..."  
  
"Moneys on the table by the door, chiquita," came her fathers voice from the kitchen. Letty furrowed her brow and looked towards the kitchen. "Papi, you don't have to!" she called to him. "Mias right, baby. You should dress more like a girl more often. You don't look that bad, you know? Got your pop's good genes in you, ya know?" Her father came out, a cup of coffee in his hand, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Go have fun," he told her, smiling at both the girls.  
  
"Thank you, Papi," Letty said, giving him a hug, which he returned. "We'll be back after dinner...say 7:30 maybe?" Letty asked, and her father nodded his head. "7:30's fine, babe. I'll see you then, now get out of here. Mia," he said, adressing the older girl, "don't let her come back with anything that resembles or can be made into guys clothing, you hear?"  
  
Mia grinned at him and Letty. "No problem," she answered, opening up the door and gesturing for Letty to follow her. "Come on Let, let's get you some stuff!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"What about this?" Letty asked, holding up a guys under shirt. Mia sighed and shook her head, slapping Letty upside the head lightly. "I'll say it agian for the 14th time...No Guys Clothes. None what-so-ever!" Mia took the shirt from Letty and hung it back on the rack. Letty groaned. "What are you trying to do? Make me into some kind of Latino barbie?"  
  
"No. A Latino princess would be the term that I would use," her friend corrected her, taking a red tank top off of a rack and holding it up to Lettys face. "Go try this on," she said. Letty begrudgingly took the shirt and turned to head for the locker rooms, but Mia grabbed her shoudler. "And take this with you!" She handed Letty a jean skirt with a chainlink belt attatched to it. Taking the skirt, Letty mumbled and grumbled all the way to the changing rooms.  
  
When she came out however, Mia was nodding in approval. "Very nice...turn around please," she said, circling her fingers in the air. Letty did so, and when she turned to face her friend again, Mia had a grin as wide as the Hudson River on her face.  
  
"You're buying that," she said. Letty heaved a great exagerated sigh and shuffled her way back into the dressing rooms, coming out a few mintues later with her grubbies on. "What did I do to deserve this?" she wondered aloud as she went up to the counter of the store to pay for her things. Mia walked beside her, as though she was making sure that Letty bought the clothes. "You became a tomboy, that's what," she answered, taking the bag as the clerk handed it to her with Letty's new garments tucked inside it.  
  
"There ain't nothing wrong with being a tomboy. I like being a tomboy. At least I'm not running around worrying about stupid stuff like if a strand of hair is out of place or if my nails aren't the right length...stupid shit like that." She and Mia walked out of the store heading towards the food court. "I need food," Letty announced walking into the crowded court and looking around at all the restauraunts available to her. Mia nodded in agreement, shifting her clothing bags (and she had alot of them) to her other arm. "I'm hitting McDonalds," she said, and Letty nodded. A Big Mac combo sounded really good right about then.  
  
When they'd gotten thier food and settled at a table, the girls dug into the burgers and fries. Letty had gotten her Big Mac combo, but Mia had opted for a double cheese-burger combo. "You always get that," Letty noted, as she put a fry in her mouth. "Yea, and you always get that," Mia retorted taking a pickle out of her cheeseburger and popping it into her mouth. "Jeez, it's getting loud in here," she commented, raising her voice just a little. Letty however, didn't answer her. Instead, her focus was directed towards the entrance to the food court from the parking lot. A huge crowd was gathered just in front of the doors, and that was where the yelling was coming from. "What's going on over there?" Mia asked. Letty shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"I dunno...why don't we go and see?" With that, she got up and left the table. "Letty! Wait up a sec!" Mia came up behind her shortly, and the two headed towards the growing mass of bodies near the exits. "Looks like we're not the only ones that are inquisitive today," Mia said, nodding her head towards the security gaurds that were beginning to approach the area, some with cautious steps.  
  
Suddenly, an explosion of cries, gasps, and general fight sounds were heard and the crowd began to move out. Through the spaces, the girls could make out two or three people on the ground. But there was something strange about this gathering. The only two factions that were to be seen were oriental people and hispanic people.  
  
"Mia, isn't that that Hector guy? You know, the one that Dom hung out with before all that crap happened?" Letty asked, pointing to a short, stocky bald man of about 19 years old. He was standing back with the group of latino's, who were all dressed practically the same. Baggy jeans, over sized jackets, and alot of jewelry on thier necks. Mia nodded her head. "Yea, I think that's him...but I don't know who the oriental guy is...or who the rest of them are for that matter. Maybe one or two of them were around when Hector came to call, but that's about it."  
  
The security gaurds were beginning to break up the fight by now, and those that could were starting to leave the mall in a hurry. Mia and Letty hurried towards the exits right along with those that were with the factions that had been fighting. "Look, there goes Hector!" Mia shouted through the crowd, pointing towards the red car that Hector was getting into. As the girls went through the doors, their ears were assulted with the sounds of revving engines and squeeling tires. Never in her life had Letty seen so many suped up cars. Some of them had lighted wheels, neon lights underneath, some even had turbo engines that had fire exploding out of the back.  
  
"Jesus..." Letty whispered as the cars began peeling out of the mall lot. Soon enough, they were all gone, and Mia and Letty were left standing on the walkway leading back into the mall. "Wonder what that was all about," Letty asked as she and Mia walked back inside to get thier things. Mia only shrugged. "Those guys are drag racers I think. I over heard Dom talking to Hector once. I think he was trying to get into that world, but I'm not sure..." she sighed as she picked up the bags that had been left at the table. "If Dom does what I think he's going to do once he gets out of prison, I guess we'll find out." Letty nodded, taking her share of the bags and following Mia once again towards the exit.  
  
"I guess so." 


	8. I'm Goin' Away

"As a result, you will be released one month from this date." The parole officer finished his statement and looked at Dom. Behind the 19 year old was now 17 year old sister and Letty, who had by now filled out into fit yet powerful looking 16 year old. The parole officer hadn't even gotten through with his statement before Mia had thrown her arms around her brother and was hugging him tightly.  
  
"However!" The officer broke in through the hugs, crying, and laughing that were coming from Mia and Letty. The girls, along with Vince who had been silent through out most of the proceedings but was now clapping Dom on the shoulder quieted down and focused thier attention once more on the parole board in front of them. "However, you will have a probation officer for the next six months. You will have to check in weekly with him, and he in turn will be watching how you behave for the next half year. If there is any indication that you are stepping out of your boundries, there will be no choice but to bring you back here where you will finish the duration of your sentance. Is that understood?"  
  
Dominic stood and nodded, reaching out a hand so that he could shake the parole officers one. "Thanks alot man," he said.  
  
And then he was pulled away and out the door by his sister and friends. Mia leapt into her brothers arms, her own arms wrapped around his neck as though she would never let him go. "You're out! You're out, you're out, you're out!" She kept chanting, laughing, crying, and coughing at the same time. "Yea, yea I'm out. Hey Mia?" Dom gasped through the tightness of the embrace. "Can I breath or would that be to much trouble for you?" Mia unraveled herself from her brother and stepped away from him a little bit. The huge smile hadn't left her face though. Dom shook his head in wonderment. "Damn, you've grown," he commented, looking her up and down. His gaze shifted to Vince and Letty. "Man, you look dieslefied or something!" Dom continued, clapping Vince on the shoulder.  
  
Vince chuckled. "Yea well. Had to find something to do while you were in here, man. Gym seemed like the right way to go." Dom nodded his head. "Ya look good, man. Anyone would be crazy to piss you off with those arms." The group chuckled a little bit and Dom's eyes finally fell on Letty. "Who is this? I don't remember seeing her before." Dom said playfully. The girl only rolled her eyes. "Shut up, dork," she responded, letting her arms fall to her sides so that she could hug Dom. "Feels like Vince wasn't the only one workin' out," she said, pulling away from him. Dom nodded. "Like he said, I had to find something to do while I was in here."  
  
"Alright Mr. Toretto. Hate to break up the party, but you've still got a month to serve in here. Visting hours are over." The parole officer came through the door, his burly like arms crossed over his chest, but a playful look was on his face. Dom nodded his head and looked at his friends and sister. "I'll see you guys later. One month exactly." He smiled at all of them and pulled his sister into a big bear hug. Mia returned it with all the strength that she had in her. "We'll have to have a big party for you when you come home," she murmered. Dom nodded his head and pulled away from his sister, tapping her chin lightly as he did so.  
  
"Big party...I like parties," he said in a wacky voice. Mia just shook her head, a playful grin on her face as she, Letty, and Vince turned away from him, thier arms wound around eachothers waists and necks. A security gaurd escorted them off the jail grounds, and soon, they were traveling back to the heart of Los Angeles, all of them making plans for Dominics welcome home party.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Mom! Mamma, Papi, he's getting out!"  
  
Letty, Vince, and Mia ran into Letty's house, screaming at the top of thier lungs. They didn't get a response however. "Mamma?" Letty called, stopping in the middle of the living room and looking around. "Papi?" she tried, looking in the kitchen.  
  
"Up here, Leticia," came her mothers voice. Vince and Mia furrowed thier eyebrows at Letty. "Leticia?" Mia quiried. The other girl shook her head, indicating for Mia to be quiet. "Mamma, what's wrong?" She called, asending the stairs. Vince and Mia followed her towards her parents bed-room.  
  
Opening up the door, Lettys eyes were greeted with suitcases opened on the bed and clothes hanging out of it. Her mother sat on one side of the bed, a lost and sad look in her eyes, and her father was busteling in and out of the bathroom. "What's going on?" Letty asked, walking further into the room. Her mother looked up at her, but before she could answer, Letty caught site of a piece of clothing in one of her fathers suitcases. "You're kidding, right?" She asked as she picked up the army garb shirt and looked at her mother. The older woman shook her head. "I'm afraid not Letty. The fighting in Kosovo has gotten worse...your fathers unit was called in."  
  
Her father came out of the bathroom, multiple hygene items in his hands. Letty looked at him, her breathing beginning to quicken. "Papi?"   
  
"I'm sorry, baby," he told her, walking around the room and gathering more of his things into the suitcase. "They called me around 11 this morning. My entire troup was called. There was no getting out of it." He came up to his daughter and planted a kiss on her forehead. Letty bit her lip. She was not about to cry in front of her father, or Vince for that matter. Nodding her head, she looked at her mother, who gave her a reassuring smile. Letty didn't have the heart to return it. She turned to walk out of the room and Vince and Mia followed her downstairs into the kitchen. Letty plopped herself into a chair at the table and rested her chin on her hand, her eyes downcast. Vince and Mia looked at eachother, each knowing that whatever they said would only serve to make Letty angrier than she already was.  
  
But Vince didn't care about that.  
  
"He'll come home Letty. He has before. Hell, he went through Vietnam, right?"  
  
"He went through Vietnam when he was 19, Vince. He didn't give a shit back then. He was reckless. He's in his early 40's now for Christ sakes! He's not as young as all those other kids over there...he-he doesn't have that spunk in him!" Letty released her anger on the older male, who quickly moved to the other side of the kitchen so that Letty wouldn't be able to unleash her anger physically.  
  
"But of course, they don't care about that. They just care about getting enough people in there to win that damn fight, whatever the hell it's about. It's not over here, why do we have to get involved? Why do they have to send MY father there, huh?!" She put a hand to her forehead and took a deep breath, keeping the tears back.   
  
"Well, think of it this way," Mia said, sitting down in the seat next to Letty, "It's not only your father that's getting called into service. Other peoples fathers, brothers, uncles, sons...they're getting called too." She rested a hand on Lettys arm. "The fights not supposed to last much longer anyways from what I hear." Letty didn't respond. Instead, she got up and went through the kitchen door into the garage. Mia shook her head at Vince, who raised his arms in a "don't look at me" gesture. "What do we do now?" he asked. Mia turned in her seat to face him, crossing her legs as she did so. "Just leave her alone, I guess. She's gonna work on some cars for a while. She'll come back in when she's ready."  
  
Vince nodded his head. "Alright..." he bounced on his heels a little and looked at Mia. "I guess I'll be goin' then...call me...you know, if you need anything..." he told her, backing towards the entrance to the foyer and waving at Mia. She smiled at him and waved back. "I will," she told him, nodding her head. With that, Vince left and Mia was left alone in the kitchen. From the garage, she heard the rustling of tools, the clamber of the wrench against some part of the car. Upstairs, she could hear the converstation that was taking place between Letty's mother and father. Mia shook her head as she got up and made her way up to her room.  
  
Just one thing after another these days.   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
It had been two weeks since Lettys father had left for his placement in Kosovo. She and her mother had gotten phone calls from him at least twice a day, and although he couldn't tell them exactly where he was, they knew round abouts of the area he was in. Everytime Letty spoke with her father, she took the phone into another room and though the conversation would end within a few minutes, she would stay in the room for at least another half hour. Mia or her mother just accepted the fact that she was having a hard time with the situation and let her have her time to herself.   
  
With a week left to the day until Dom got out of Lompoc, Letty awoke to the sound of the doorbell ringing. She laid there for a moment, staring at the ceiling and then she looked at her clock. It was 9:00 in the morning.   
  
Who would be visiting this early in the day?  
  
Kicking the covers aside, Letty staggered out of the bed and reached for her robe on the back of the door. Opening the door, she stepped into the hallway and padded her way down the stairs into the living room. What greeted her eyes made her stomach turn topsy turvy.  
  
There were two military personel standing in her living room. Her mother was sitting on the couch, holding what looked like to be a necklace of some kind in her hand, and although Letty couldn't hear it over the voices of the visiting men, she knew her mother was crying.  
  
"Mamma?" she said in a small voice, walking into the living room. Her mother looked up, tears streaming down her face, her cheeks red, her eyes lined in the same color. She moved a little on the couch and patted the spot next to her, indicating that Letty should sit down. But her daughter didn't move from her spot. Instead, she stood straight, her fists clenched at her sides, her jaw mimicking them. "What happend?" she whispered, not looking at her mother, but looking at the service men standing before her.  
  
"Leticia, his daughter," her mother explained, before turning to her. Letty looked at her mothers hands, which were holding the chains...  
  
And then she understood.  
  
She couldn't cry. She couldn't blink, couldn't move....couldn't breath. All she could do was open and close her mouth. She felt a lump rising in her throat, but she didn't care. She didn't have muscle control at the moment to keep it down anyways. Her mother got up from her seat and walked over to Letty, hugging her daughter tightly to her. For a few moments, Letty didn't return the embrace. Gradually though, she held onto her mother tightly. And then, she found herself able to blink, able to breath. With that came the torrent of tears and sobs, the shaking of the head and body. She didn't believe it. Her father had survived Vietnam when thousands hadn't, and now he had been killed as a peacekeeper soldier?  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
Mia had come downstairs by this time, and was now looking quite confused as she stared at the two service men in the living room. Letty's mother beckoned to Mia to come over and take Letty, which she did so readily. "I'll explain after they leave," Lettys mother said, turning to the officers. "Thankyou for telling us what happend."  
  
"Yes Ma'am. We're sorry that we have to visit you under these circumstances," one of the men said. The woman nodded and walked towards the front door, seeing them outside. When she came back into the living room, she found both girls were in tears. She looked at the dogtags which were still in her hand. Walking up to her daughter, she knelt beside the couch and turned her face so that she could look into Lettys eyes.  
  
"I think your father would have wanted you to have these," she said, opening up Lettys hand and placing the chains in it. She didn't know that she was doing it, but Letty clenched her fingers around the dogtags, holding onto them as though they were her life. She was glad that Dom would be getting out next week.  
  
It would be the only thing keeping her going until then. 


	9. Homecoming

"Here we are man, home sweet home!" Vince whooped, pulling into the Torettos driveway and coming to a stop. He looked over at Dom, who had been silent since they'd gotten off the highway. "Hey Dom, you been in jail for two years, now all you want to do is sit in a car?" Vince said, a light jesting tone in his voice. A sad smile came on Dominics face. "I'm comin'" he told his friend, opening the car door and stepping out into the bright sunshine that always seemed to flow onto the streets of LA.  
  
"DOM!"  
  
He looked to the screen door that had just been slammed open by his sister and he grinned. Opening up his arms to accomidate her jumping into him, he twirled her around a couple times before putting her down. He smiled down at her, running a big hand through her chestnut brown strands. "Practically grown up," he murmered, looking at her with pride. "Come on, who else is in there, huh?" he asked, putting an arm around his sisters shoulders. She in turn wrapped her arm around his waist and the two with Vince in tow walked up the sidewalk.  
  
"Well, Vince is here, obviously, he drove you here," she chuckled, "and I'm here...some kids from high school that graduated this past summer, some my friends, some your friends...and Letty and her mother." She reached the door and opened it up for him, expecting him to go right on inside, but he didn't. Instead, he beckoned to Vince, who had a duffle bag full of things that belonged to Dom when he was in prison. "Go on in man, tell 'em I'll be there in a second..." Vince nodded and went inside, while the brother and sister stayed out on the deck. "How is she doin?'" Dom asked. His sister sighed and wrapped her arms around one of the pillars that connected from the railing to the roof of the deck.  
  
"She's real quiet," Mia answered, looking down at the patch of bushes and grass that was below. "I've tried to help her through it as much as I can, Dom...and she seems better now. She and her mom had to go all the way to D.C. for the burial services." Dom nodded his head. "At least the guy got the kind of funeral he deserved," he said, scuffing his foot along the wooden deck floor. Mia nodded her head and looked across the street for a few moments, sending fertive glances her brothers way. Finally, he clapped her on the shoulder and smiled.  
  
"Better get to our guests I suppose," he said, grinning at her, and Mia nodded her head once more, sending a twin look his way. She opened the screen door Dom and ushered him in.  
  
"Hey, whut's up, everyone?"  
  
"Dom!"  
  
"Hey man!"  
  
"Glad to have you back!"  
  
These phrases and others slammed into Doms ears as he crossed the threshhold of the doorway into his house. About 40 people were there. Some were buddies from school, like Hector and his crew, others were Mia's friends like Leena Tran, Maria Martinez, a cousin of Hectors, and a few more odd and end people. "Hey guys, what's happenin'?" he asked casually, as though he hadn't been away from home for two years. The group around him laughed, patting him on the back, some of the girls giving him hugs, Leena being the most foreward out of all of them. "So glad you're back, Dominic," she purred, resting her slim long fingers on Doms now buldging muscles. He smiled down at her, giving her a warm embrace back. "You're not the only one," he responded.  
  
"Hello, Dominic."  
  
Dom's eyes rose to meet those of Letty's mother, Teresa. He immediately pulled out of Leenas grasp, much to the girls dissapointment, and walked over to her, enfolding himself in the womans' warm embrace. The room was quiet while the two shared thier moment, each feeling the loss of Letty's father and Teresas husband differently, but feeling it none the less. Finally, the Letty's mother broke away, revealing a smile on her face. "It's good to have you back home," she said, her hands coming to rest on his broad shoulders. Dom leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks," he murmered. As he opened his eyes, they focused on Letty, who was standing behind her mother next to the sofa.  
  
"Hey...what are you doin' all the way over there?" Dom asked, side stepping Teresa and crossing to Letty. The girl shrugged. "Didn't want to interrupt you and mom," she answered, opening her arms and wrapping them around him tightly. "Eh, you wouldn't have interupted us, Let." He stepped back, holding her away at arms length. "Now, you may have distracted me a little, but interupted..." he gave her a sideways grin, "well, you're not that good lookin' yet!"  
  
"Oh, shut up!" Letty yelled, swatting at him. Dominic laughed and jumped away from her, seeking the protection of his sister and Vince. Letty was left shaking her head and trying not to break out into the embarrased smile that so desperately wanted to shine through.  
  
"Come on everyone, there's food out on the back porch!" Mia called, waving and leading everyone towards the back yard. "Hey, I can do food. Food is good. What're we havin'?" Dom asked, slinking his arms over his sisters and Leena Trans shoulders. "What else? Barbeque chicken, chips and dip, some ribs mixed in there, potato salad, apple sauce...the works!" Mia said, shrugging out of his arm and grabbing a pair of pinchers. She went over to the grill and opened up the top, revealing four rows of heavily basted chicken. Dom nearly fell to the deck smelling the aroma of spice and honey iminating from the grill.  
  
"How could I have survived prison without this?" he murmered, making it to a chair, with Leenas help of course. The girl took the seat next to Dom, putting a paper plate in front of him and giving him her winning smile. "Even if you had had the chicken Dominic, I still don't know how you would have survived that awful place. Which begs the question...how did you do it?" Dom shrugged his shoulders, spooning some potato salad onto his plate and reaching for some chips. "I dunno...just uh...well, thought about my sister alot," he said, standing up to give her a kiss on the cheek. Mia returned the kiss at the same time and set a platter of chicken down right in front of Dom.  
  
"Big mistake there, Mia," Letty called from her seat next to Vince and her mother. "It'll all be gone before we get a piece."  
  
"That's why I'm bringing another plate down here," Mia called, putting more chicken on another platter. Letty's mother shook her head and put her napkin down. "Mia, sit down, I'll take care of this. Talk with your brother, hmmmm?" Mia tried to protest, but in the end wound up sitting in her seat a little earlier than she had anticipated. Soon, another plate of chicken was at the other end of the table and everyone was digging into the feast that Mia had been working on all day.  
  
"Hey Mia, ever consider going to one of those cooking schools?" Hector asked, wiping his mouth of the barbeque sauce with the back of his hand. To that question, Mia laughed whole-heartedly, as though Hector had lost his mind. "I wasn't planning on it, no," she said, eating some of her chips. "I want to be a nurse." Dom's head lifted away from Leenas for a split second, eyebrows raised in confusion. "You wanna be a nurse?" he asked. "When did this come about?" Mia shrugged. "I'll tell you later," she said, and she turned her head away from Dom so that he couldn't ask her anything more about it.  
  
The rest of the meal consisted of Dom telling stories about his time at Lompoc, his friends sharing tales of what the two years had been like without him, and general craziness and happiness abounding. The only one that was somewhat quiet was Letty. Although she was smiling and laughing at others jokes and stories and such, she herself was not starting many conversations, preferring to listen to others speak rather than share something from her own brain. Both Mia and Dom noticed it, but the party was not the time to say anything to her about it. She was still reeling from the loss of her father, and they knew better than anyone that it would take time for Letty to grow accustomed to not having her dad around anymore.  
  
The party lasted well into the late hours of the night. It wasn't until about an hour before midnight that people began to leave, either to go home or to go to another party that someone else was having. One of these was Hector. However, before he left, he pulled Dom aside. "Dom, man, I got somethin' big to tell you." He leaned in a little closer to Dominic. "You want to make some fast cash?" Dom looked to the right a little, not quite understanding what Hector was getting at. "Don't worry man, it's nothing illegal...well, nothing to illegal...you won't go to jail for it at least," he said, smiling and punching Dom on the shoulder a little. It was obvious that after Lettys mother had left Hector had consumed one to many adult beverages.  
  
"Anyway, anyway," Hector continued, leaning on Dom for a little more support. "There's a world out there Dom, a world that you have probably heard of..." he let the sentence hang in the air a moment before continuing, as though he were building suspence. "Street racin' man...money comin' out the ass in street racin'"  
  
"What're you talkin' about, Hector?" Dom asked tirely, beginning to lead his friend to the door where his crew was waiting for him. He held up a hand before Hector could answer him again. "No, nevermind. Tell me about it tomorrow sometime, when you can open your mouth and the stank smell of alcohol won't be rushing from your mouth?" All Hector could do now was nod and say "okay". He gave Dom a drunkin smile as the former deposted him with his friends and stepped away, waving to them as they got into their cars. Now, Dom had had a few beers, but he wasn't to drunk to notice something.  
  
All the cars that were a part of Hectors crew were suped up automobiles.  
  
Completely.  
  
As they all pulled away, thier engines roared down the street, tires squealed against the pavement, and sound systems blared. Dom shook his head in amusement as she watched Hector roll down the window and yell a spanish rap song down the street as he zoomed away. "Things never change around here, even when ya go to prison," he said to himself, walking back inside the house. Now, it was only him, Mia, Letty, and Vince left.  
  
And there was a lot of cleaning to do.  
  
Alot.  
  
"Mia!" he called, walking into the kitchen. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, looking around for his sister. "Nothing right now!" He heard her say. Walking to the back door, he peaked out and saw her tossing paper cups, plates, napkins, and plastic-ware into a trashbag. To her side was a paper bag, in which she was putting beer bottles that were to be recycled.  
  
"You're not doin' all this by yourself," he told her stubbornly. She shook her head, glancing up at him briefly before going back to what she had been doing. "I'm not doin' it all myself," she told him, lifting the bag roughly a couple of times so that the trash would compact together more. "Letty and Vince are helping me." Dom looked around. "Oh? Where are they?" Mia stopped throwing trash into the black bag and looked up, turning to the backyard and squinting her eyes. "There," she said, pointing to two figures out on the lawn. "They're picking up the stray plates and bottles and stuff that are on the grass."  
  
"Well, if you guys are getting the trash, then I'm getting the grill and other dishes that you used." With that, Dom stepped out onto the wood deck and strolled on over to the grill, opening it and taking off the top two racks. Mia looked at him as though he'd gone nuts.  
  
"Dom! Those are hot!" He just looked at her.  
  
"No they're not..."  
  
"Oh my god..." his sister muttered under her breath, shoving more trash into the bag. Dom just grinned at her and carried the racks inside, dumping them into the sink and letting the cold water spill on them for a bit while he lathered up a sponge with some soap. He was just about to wash the first two racks when he heard Vince and Letty's voices on the porch.  
  
"Letty, you don't have to do any more if you don't want." Mia told her, shoving down the trash that was already in the bag to make room for more.  
  
"S'okay," she replied. Dom heard the sound of bottles being clanked together and figured that Letty was putting more into the glass bag. "Where do you want this?"  
  
"Uhhh...just put it in the kitchen by the garage door. Me or Dom'll take it out later." Dominic turned to the sink once more as he heard footsteps coming towards the door and into the kitchen, the entire way the bottles were clanking and colliding with eachother.  
  
"That sounds nice," Dom commented, scrubbing the racks free of the charcoal and sauce.  
  
"Doesn't it?" Letty asked, finally sitting the bag down next to the door. She turned around and crossed her arms, letting out a slow breath and leaned against the door that led out to the garage. "How've you been doin'?" Dom asked. Letty shrugged her shoulders. "Good," was all she said. She watched as Dom rinsed the racks clean of the soap and put them off to the side of the counter to be dried.  
  
"Good?"   
  
"Yea."  
  
Dom shook his head. "You don't look good." Letty breathed in deeply. "Well, what do you expect?" She asked testily. Dom held up his hands. "Hey, I'm just sayin...you look like you could use some sleep or something, you know?"  
  
Letty just looked at him. She didn't know what else to do at the moment.  
  
"I'm just...tryin' to help Letty. I know what you're goin' through. I was there two years ago, remember?"   
  
Letty still said nothing, but her eyes were beginning to widen a little bit, going into doe eyes. She blinked a few times so that the tears that were forming wouldn't be seen. Finally, Dom sighed and walked slowly to the outside door. "Look, you need to talk...you can talk to me, you know that right?" Letty nodded her head, raising her chin a little. Dom stood in the doorway for a few moments longer, then nodded his head and tapped the side of the frame. "Okay...I'm gonna help Mia out a little bit more. Why don't you go on home? You've done enough for tonight. Go home. Go to sleep. Being a zombie isn't going to help anything. Trust me, I know," he sent a miniscule grin her way, and she nodded her head, returning it, though it was even less then his.  
  
"Alright...I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Without waiting for an answer, Letty turned to the garage door and opened it, leaving the kitchen and closing the door behind her. Dom blinked and watched her leave, just standing there for a few minutes.  
  
Suddenly, the door opened again and Letty came through it. Hurrying past him to the entrance to the Living Room where the front door was, she said, "Garage door wasn't open." Dom shook his head, watching her leave. He waited until he heard the door slam and then sighed, closing his eyes.  
  
"Dom, you okay?"   
  
He looked outside at his sister who was standing beside Vince and nodded.  
  
"Yea...yea, I'm good." He stepped out onto the deck and headed to the grill again, grabbing the last two racks and walking back inside to clean them. 


	10. A Proposition is Made

It had been a month since Dominic had stepped outside of Lompoc Prison as a free man. He'd come back home, but he'd come back to an empty house. Mia was still in the custody of Letty's mother, and it would be a while before she would be turning 18. He couldn't wait for that day though. No one knew how much he now depended on his sister. She was the one thing that kept him going through the two years that he had been in jail, and now that he was out, he wanted to make sure that he stayed out of prison for her.  
  
The house had begun to take back it's original feel about a week after Dom moved back in. He, his sister, and Vince and Letty had gone through the garage, looking for all sorts of things to put up on the walls. Brother and Sister had each agreed that thier fathers room would be left alone, just as he'd left it the morning of the day he'd died. They did this in his memory and because they couldn't fathom letting someone else sleep in that room as though it had been thiers.  
  
Over the next three weeks, the house took on a new face. It was cleaned from top to bottom, including the carpet, wood floors and the garage, which was an abominable mess. Family heirlooms, some of thier mother and fathers things, and old baby toys that they had stowed away were found while cleaning the garage. The heirlooms and belongings of thier parents were kept, destined to be put in thier fathers room, but most of the child hood toys that Mia and Dom had had growing up were tossed in the trash.  
  
The living room, kitchen, den, and upstairs guest room was also given a face lift. All of the rooms needed to be repainted, as some of the paint was beginning to peel off of the walls, and basic rearranging of the furniture would take place after that.  
  
For four solid weeks, the four teens, Letty's mother and various friends of the Torettos slaved over the old house until finally, one day, they couldn't take anymore.  
  
"If I smell one more scent of paint, I'm going to hurl," Mia said, flopping down on the now clean carpet in the living room of her own home. "I second that," Vince said, taking a seat on the couch. Letty and Dom said nothing, only smiled and nodded. "We should do something else other than clean...I mean, come on, it's summer, it's July...the beach is where we should be right now, not cooped up inside a fixer-upper." Mia continued, rolling over on her back so that she could look at everyone gathered.  
  
"Well...it's only 2:00 now," Dom commented, sitting on the recliner beside the sofa. "If we stop with the repairs now and get ready, we should have a good four hours of beach time left. If we leave now," he emphasized. For a few moments, no one said anything or moved. Then...  
  
"I'll be back in a few minutes!"  
  
"I'll get the food ready!"  
  
"Hey, I'm goin' to my house to get my suit and money, don't leave with out me...Vince, wait up!"  
  
The four scrambled this way and that, hurrying to get ready for thier impromptu beach trip. Letty ran out the door after Vince, diving into his car just as he was pulling away from the curb. Dom watched the two run out of the house and smiled. Letty had been alot more sociable lately, even thinking up a few jokes and ideas herself. "Hey Mia!" He called to his sister, walking into the kitchen. "Don't forget to put some of the chicken in there that you made last night, eh? That was the best batch yet," he complimented her, giving her a bear hug from behind. "I've already got it in the basket. Hey," she said, turning around and poking her brother in the ribs. "All you have to do is put on some swim trunks, but I've got to find my suit. Therefore, you can finish packing the food!" Before Dom had a chance to protest, Mia was running up the stairs, and he soon heard the slam if her door.  
  
"Sure...no problem," he muttered, going to the fridge and seeing what they had in the left-over department. It wasn't that Dom didn't feel like making the picnic lunch...it was just that he didn't exactly know what went into a lunch like this. If he had his choice, it would be chicken and beer. But then again, he couldn't drink beer in public for another two years, and on the beach, drinking was illegal.  
  
"Hmmmm...potaoto salad...chips and dip...veggies, Mia needs some of those...hey! Fruit platter!" He said, arming himself with all the food that he could carry and spilling it into the picnic basket. He was just coming out of the garage with the sodas when Mia came back downstairs, the top of her bathing suit showing from under her speghetti strapped shirt. Dom frowned. "What's that?" he asked, leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his broad chest.  
  
"What's what?"  
  
"That string thing you got on. What is it?"   
  
"That would be what we call a bathing suit Dom," Mia replied, slipping on her sandles and walking over to him. "Did you put everything in here?" she asked, looking in the basket. Dom knew that she was changing the subject, but he decided to let the matter slide.  
  
For now.  
  
"Yea, I think so...everything that I could fit in there is in there," he told her, walking out of the kitchen to change into his beach wear.   
  
By the time he came back down stairs, Letty and Vince had arrived, and were in the kitchen with Mia when Dom came back downstairs. "Hey, look who decided to come join the crowd," Vince said, taking a carrot from the basket and snacking on that. Dom threw his towel at Vince, which hit the young man squarley in the face. "Look who had to take 10 minutes to go home and get thier shit," he said jokingly. Vince tossed the towel back to him, at the same time saying, "What...I had drop off and pick up Letty!"  
  
"She coulda walked."  
  
"Excuse me?" came Letty's voice. Dom glanced to the side to find an indigant looking young girl glaring at him. "Well...you know, you're only five houses down..." he said. Letty raised an eyebrow, to which Dom rubbed the back of his head in response. "Hey, come on, let's get going!" He said hastily, grabbing the basket and brushing by Vince and Letty. Vince walked after him immediately, followed at a more leasurly pace by the girls.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Wooooo! Yea man!" Vince yelled as he got out of the car, pulling his duffle bag with him. "Nothin' like salt air, eh Bro?" He called over the car to Dom, who was also getting out and helping his sister with the basket. "I know right?" He answered, slamming his door shut and walking around the car to Vince's side. Letty was ahead of the boys a bit and Mia walked to stand beside her. "Where do we want to head to?" the younger Toretto asked her three companions. Letty pointed to an area surrounded by small sand dunes and rocks. "How 'bout over there?" she suggested, looking over her shoulders at the boys who nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me, let's go," Dom said, carrying the basket. "Hey Vince, I put the sodas in the cooler. It's in the trunk, you wanna get that?" he asked.   
  
"Sure man, no problem. Go ahead, I'll catch up." He called, doubling back to the car. Mia looked over her shoulder at him. "You sure you don't want any help with that thing?" she called to him. She got a resounding no from Vince and shrugged her shoulders, looking at Letty. "He doesn't know how big that thing is," she told her friend. Letty shook her head and led the way down to the spot where they'd decided to camp out for the day.  
  
The girls and Dom reached the area in no time and began to lie down thier towels and bags. They were just finishing when Vince arrived with the cooler of sodas, his face red. "Dammit Dom," he said, putting the cooler down heavily. "You shoulda told me that the thing weighed 500 pounds." Dom shrugged his shoulders, pointing at Mia. "She asked if you needed help. You were the one that said no, Bro." He reminded his best friend. Vince dropped his duffle bag beside the cooler. "Yea, but that was before I knew I was carrying the equivalent of four dead bodies in there!"  
  
Mia and Dom glanced up quickly at Vince at that comment and then looked at eachother and finally in Lettys direction. She didn't seem to be paying attention. At the moment she was trying to even out the creases that were being made by the sand being moved around them so much. The sibblings looked back at Vince, who had become fasinated by the way the sand flowed in between his toes.  
  
"Well, I'm ready for a dip, what about you guys?" Mia said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. The boys nodded thier heads and simultanously took off thier shirts, tossing them on the bright sand below. But when Mia took off her shirt, there were buldging eyes from both Vince and Dom, but for different reasons. While Vince could only gawk at the 17 year old, Dom was looking his sister up and down, astonished at what she had on. "What the hell is that?!" He asked, walking up to her as she took off her shorts to reveal a very showy bikini bottom.  
  
"It's a bathing suit, Dom," she said, as though he were stupid. Her brother shook his head. "That ain't a bathing suit! That's something they give strippers down at the Hot Nights Club!" He looked over at Letty, who still wasn't paying any attention, but she was also wearing a two piece. "And what happend to you wearing one pieces, huh?" He quired. But Letty nipped this one in the bud.  
  
"Hey Dom, your sisters right there, not down here. I liked it, I got it."  
  
Dom shook his head in disbelief and looked back at Mia who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest. "You...we-I am taking you for a new bathing suit!" He told her. Mia shook her head and gave her brother a smile. "I don't think so, Dom. I'm 17, I can wear what I want. I paid for this with my own money, and I like it, and I'm wearing it." She started to walk towards the beach, Vince looking after her, a longing expression on his face, which Dom caught. "Hey! Don't even think about it, Man!"   
  
Vince immediately looked away from Dom's sister and at his best friend. "What?" he asked, an innocent mask on his face. Dom smacked himself on the forehead and shook his head. "Nothin'," he said, looking at Vince through his fingers.   
  
But Vince wasn't there. Furrowing his brow, Dom looked towards the beach and saw Vince running towards the shoreline to where Mia was wading in the waves. Dom stood there at a loss, his eyes resting on his sister and best friend for a while, and then slowly leaving thier figures and resting on Letty. She was lying on her stomach, her feet in the air, looking at the waves as the crashed against the rocks near a quarry not far from thier position. His eyes studied what they could of her face...her hair...  
  
Her back...  
  
Her-  
  
"Stop staring at my ass, Dom," he heard her say, and he looked back toward her face to see her eyes on him, a satisfied smirk on her face.  
  
"I wasn't starin' at your ass, Letty..." he said, trying to think of a good excuse as to why he was looking in the direction that he was. "Then what were you lookin' at?" Letty asked, rising up a little on her elbows.  
  
"Your back," Dom answered, pointing at her. "It's gonna burn."  
  
"So?"  
  
"So...so you should let me put some lotion on it so that it won't burn, that's so." With that, he bent down, grabbed a bottle full of suntan oil, and poured some into his palm. "Put your head down, it'll be easier that way," he told her. Letty looked up at him for a few moments, but slowly relinquished her defenses and lowered her head a little as Dom had instructed her to do. He knelt down next to her side, rubbing his hands together, spreading the lotion over his palms. When they were sufficiantly lathered, he gently placed them on Lettys already tanned back and began to massage her back with the oil.  
  
Meanwhile, Letty was in heaven. Dom's hands on her back caused shivers to go up and down her spine, all through her legs, and then straight back up to her head. Her forehead dropped to her hands which had acted as a kind of pillow for her. Not only was Dom lathering up her back with oil that would cause her skin not to burn, but he was also working the muscles that were extremely tight to thier original loose state. When Dom traveled up to the nap of her neck, Lettys head went completely limp, resting fully on her arms now. She didn't know how long Dom continued to continue the massage session, but she knew that it was longer than was necessary, as the oil must have been worked in to her bones at that point.  
  
"Better?"   
  
"Hmmmmm?"  
  
She heard chuckling from behind her, but she was so relaxed at the point in time she didn't bother to turn her head to find out what he was laughing at. "I asked if that felt better," Dominic repeated, slowing his hands down a bit, an indication that he was preparing to finish the massage. "Yea...yea, much better," Letty answered. Above her, Dominic shook his head, but he was smiling. He was glad that his friend was finally relaxing a little bit for the first time in four weeks. And he was happy to be the cause of the relaxation...  
  
"Hey, what's goin' on here?"  
  
While Doms whole head went up, Lettys eyes only flicked towards the new voice, which happend to belong to Leena Tran. Inwardly, Letty groaned. She didn't like the girl at all. Not one bit. Not only was she a snob and a fake, but it was obvious that she had her sights set on Dominic. The mood and moment ruined by the girls intrusion, Letty shrugged off Doms hands and rose to a sitting position, one leg stretched out, one leg bent to her chest and her arms holding her up. "Not much," she said, a fake smile on her face. "What are you doing over here?" she asked, trying to keep the malice out of her voice.   
  
If Leena recognized the contempt that was shinning in Letty's voice, she didn't let it show on her face or in her own tones. "Oh, nothing much. Just swimming here with my brother and a couple of his friends. Actually, my brother is the reason that I'm talking to you right now," She walked over to the other side of Dominic, so that now he was between her and Letty. This forced him to look away from the latino girl, and Letty knew that that was the reason Leena had decided to take up the position that she did.  
  
"Johnny wants to recruit you into one of his teams," Leena said simply, putting her hands on her hips and looking regally down at Dom. Both he and Letty furrowed thier brows. "His team? What, did he form a Basketball league or something? Tell him that I ain't such a good ball player, Leena," Dom said standing up and brushing off his swimming trunks. Letty stood as well, picking up her sun-glasses as she did so and putting them on.  
  
"No, no, no...this is a different kind of sport. See...Johnny's an avid racer. He loves it. S'what makes his blood flow. S'what makes your blood flow. He figures that the racing runs in your blood. He wants you to be one of his top racers. He'll give you the cars to race, as long as you give him part of your winnings as payment." Leena walked up to Dominic, letting her arms fall to her sides. "It would be very benefitial for him...and for you of course. You get money, you get the thrill of racing...and other thrills along with that." A sly smile formed on her face. Letty, meanwhile, was clicking her tongue against the inside of her cheek. This girl wasn't making her happy.  
  
Not at all.  
  
"Hey Dom, we should probably go find Mia and Vince." She said, coming to stand beside the older Toretto. She and Dom might not have been together at the moment, but Leena had interupted a very nice moment for her, and she wasn't about to let the girl get away with it, especially when Letty knew Leena had meant to come over at that exact moment.  
  
"Yea...right," Dom answered, looking down at her and then back at Leena. "Hey look...tell your brother if he wants me to race for him, he can come talk to me." He bent down and reached into Vinces duffle bag, pulling out a pen and piece of paper. He prepared to give her his phone number, but Leena waved her hand away. "Don't worry, I've already got your number from Mia," she told him, backing away from Letty and Dom. "I'll tell him to give you a call...and that you're interested. In everything." She walked around the towels that were Vinces and Mias and waved to Dom. "See you in school, Leticia," she called over her shoulder. Dom looked over at Letty, who was no clenching and unclenching her fists, staring at the girl as she walked away to a group of people that were obviously waiting for her.  
  
"Well...that was interesting," Dom said. Letty nodded her head, but didn't look up at him.  
  
"Yea...really interesting." 


	11. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

"Hello?"  
  
"Hello. Is Dominic in?"  
  
Mia frowned at the un-familiar voice. "Uhhh...I'm not sure, he may be in the garage. I'll check for you." Carrying the cordless phone with her, Mia walked into the kitchen and opened up the door to the garage. "Hey Dom!" She called.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
Hearing the voice, Mia looked around the garage and finally saw her brothers shiny bald head sticking up and out from under the hood of one of the cars he was looking at. Mia hid a chuckle behind a hand as she walked up to him, holding the phone out. "You alright?" she asked, an ammused tone slipping into her voice. Dom nodded his head, but gave his sister a weary look. "Yea...yea, I'm fine," he nodded to the phone, "who's that?" Mia shrugged. "I don't know, the voice doesn't sound familiar at all."  
  
Dom nodded and took the phone.  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"Hello, is this Dominic Toretto?"   
  
Dominic furrowed his brow a bit and looked at his sister. "Yea, this is Dominic, who's this?" Dom could almost see the smile on the mans face as he spoke again. "My name is Johnathan Tran...Johnny to my friends. My sister is Leena. You spoke with her a couple of days ago at the beach. She told me that I should call you." Putting down the rag that he was holding, Dom began to walk out of the garage and into the kitchen, Mia right on his heels.  
  
"Well, from what I understood, it sounded like you had some kind of proposition for me. Somethin' about racin cars for money..." On the other end, Johnny laughed, a somewhat arrogant and hauty laugh that Dom didn't exactly take to very well. "Something like that, yes," Tran said. "Is there some place that we could meet and discuss this? I'd really rather not talk about it over the phone...so informal, you know?"  
  
Dom nodded his head, although he was pretty certain that informality was not the reason that Johnny Tran wanted to meet in person with him. None the less..."Yea, sure. That'd be fine. Where and when?" He motioned to his sister to grab a pen and piece of paper off the counter, which she did, and handed it to him hastily. All the while, she had a questioning look on her face, but Dom shook his head, indicating for her to be quiet for the time being.  
  
"There's a small cafe off the corner of Riverview and Lake Shore Drives. You know where that is?"  
  
"Yea...it's about 15 minutes away from me."  
  
"Alright then. I'll see you in about a half hour then. Is that acceptable to you?" Dom looked at the phone as though it had grown a second head or something, but he quickly answered, "yea...yea, that sounds good to me. I'll see you there."  
  
"Very good. I look forward to meeting you, Dominic. We have alot to talk about."  
  
"Yea, I'll see you there." With that, Dominic clicked the phone off and looked at Mia. "Let's go for a drive, eh?" he said, getting up and walking out of the kitchen, leaving Mia to stand next to the table, a very confused look on her face.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So this guy wants you to race cars for him? Like drag racing?" Mia asked, brushing the hair out of her face as they turned into the parking lot of the small, tropical like cafe that was just off the road. "Yep, that's what I get so far," Dom answered, pulling to a stop at the curb and shutting off the engine. The sibblings both got out and began to walk across the street, each noticing the three heavily suped up cars that were parked side by side. "I guess those would be Trans cars," Mia observed aloud, walking in behind her brother. Dom nodded and looked around. Finally, he spotted Leena Tran surrounded by a group of oriental looking young men.  
  
"I guess that would be them," he said, pointing. As he did so, one of the guys happend to turn around, and he tapped another one of his buddies on the shoulder. The next person to turn around eyed them, and then smiled, beckoning them to come over. Mia and Dom did as requested, and soon, the were standing in front of Johnny Trans group of friends. A young man about the age of 20 stood and reached a hand out for Dom to shake. "Dom, I take it," he said, smiling, his teeth a pearly white color. "I'm Johnny Tran, this is my sister Leena. You already know her of course," Dom nodded his head and stole a glance at Johnny's younger sister. She gave a slight nod of her head in greeting, sending a flirtatious smile his way.  
  
"This is my cousin, Lance," Johnny continued, pointing at a young man sitting across from him, who briefly looked Dom over and gave him a curt nod.  
  
"Well, as long as we're making introductions, this is my sister, Mia," he said, stepping aside to allow Mia to shake hands with everyone. As she took Johnny's hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it lightly. "A pleasure to meet such an exquisite young woman," he murmered. Mia smiled back at him and pulled her hand gently away from Johnny's. Looking up at Leena, she gave the girl a smile. "Sup?" she asked. Leena shrugged her shoulders, grinning. "All depends on how this conversation goes," she said, her eyes bouncing back from Dom to her brother. Johnny indicated a seat to the side and in front of him. "Sit down, please. No since discussing business in discomfort."  
  
After Dominic and Mia had gotten themselves settled and drinks had been ordered for them, Johnny leaned over on the table, and began to speak.  
  
"I'll explain to you what it is we do first," he said, taking a sip of his drink. "To put it perfectly, we race. We race, we win, and we collect money. Big money, depending on how good you get." He lowered his voice for the next part. "The thing is, we street race. We don't race on tracks or anything." He pointed to the street outside the window that was behind Dom and his sister. "We race on streets like that. In fact, tonight, we're racing not far from here." He grinned at Dom and his sister.  
  
"And you are invited to witness exactly what it is we do."  
  
The Torettos looked at eachother for a moment, then at the crew that had assembled with the Trans.   
  
"You said street racing, right?" Mia asked, sitting on top of a table now beside Leena. Johnny nodded his head. "That's what I said," he smiled at her. Mia however, looked at her brother. "I dunno about this Dom. You just got your freedom back two months ago. You're on probation too...you shouldn't risk it." Dom was about to reply to his sisters fears when Tran held up a hand. "Maybe I should have told you about our security measures first," he said, standing up and motioning for them to do the same. "Please, follow me," with that, began to walk out of the cafe. Lance and his sister followed immediately after Johnny, the rest of his crew and the Torettos bringing up the rear. The stepped out into the paved parking lot of the cafe and headed towards the group of cars that Dom and Mia had seen walking into the cafe.  
  
"Cass, show them your little toys, hmmm?" Johnny instructed, pointing to a young man of about 18 years old with matted down black hair, a tan wife-beater on and black pants. "Glad to," he said, opening the door of his car and slipping inside it. Dom and Mia leaned in a little closer to see what Cass was showing them.   
  
"This is a radar detector and police radio in one," Cass explained. "The detector obviously detects radars within a one mile radius of the pack, and the radio is tuned into every channel that the LAPD uses. This is how we know when and where it's alright to race. If, by some chance someone calls the cops on us, we'll know about it in time to get out of the vicinity of the call. We haven't gotten caught yet," he said proudly. Johnny lightly tapped the roof of Cass's car and smiled. "No we haven't. All because of Cass right here. He monitors the air waves while we race. And of course, all of our racers know at least five ways to get away from the scene if we have to jet." Sighing in satisfaction, he looked at Dominic. "So, what do you say? You want to take a chance on this?"  
  
Dominic looked Johnny over, ignoring the prodding nods from Lance and Cass. "Depends," he finally said, "what exactly is the deal here?"  
  
"Ah, of course, how forgetful of me," Johnny said, smacking his head lightly. "The deal is quite simple. You've got a racers blood in you. Plus, I've seen the way you drive. You also know alot about cars; how they work, different parts that would make the performance better...you would be a huge asset to me and my team. I'll give you the car that you'll race, and you'll race it for money. All I ask is that you give me %60 of the profiets that you make on every race. What you choose to do with the other %40 is your business." He cocked his head to the side as if to say, "well?"  
  
Dominic looked at his sister. Mia's arms were crossed, her hip sticking out slightly. Her eyes were searching Trans face. He could already tell that his sister didn't think much of her friends brother. But he needed the money...they both needed the money. Mia's part time job at the mall would tide them over for a while, but even without the house bills to pay, there were still other necessities. Food, utilities, clothes...not to mention the up-keep of a house that hadn't been lived in for two years or so...but...  
  
"How about this. Lemme talk it over with my sister here, and I'll get in touch with you tomorrow, day after at the latest."   
  
Johnny nodded his head, holding out a hand, which Dom shook. "No problem, man," he said, returning Doms firm shake. "It's a tough decision to make, no one knows that more than me. I'll expect your call, but take as much time as you need."   
  
"Alright, thanks man. I'll get in touch with you soon." He looked over Johnny's shoulder at his sister. "Mia, you ready?" The girl nodded her head, extending her hand as a curtesy, Dom knew, to Johnny. He took it and, as before, kissed it gently. "Hopefully he'll accept the offer, that way we can have conversations about something other than business dealings." Mia nodded her head and once again pulled her hand gently from Trans grasp. She said good-bye to Leena and followed her brother out to the car. As soon as she got in and shut the door she looked at Dominic.  
  
"No."  
  
"Mia, let's wait and talk about this at home, huh?" Dom said, starting up the car. With a last look at Trans crew, he peeled out of the cafe parking lot, marking the pavement as he did so.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Dom, you are on probation for another four months, you can't afford to get caught doing anything illegal right now. They'll throw you right back in jail again, so fast it'll make your head spin!" Mia was standing in the middle of the Toretto living room. Vince and Letty were on the couch looking at her, while Dom was in the recliner, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.  
  
"You heard what Tran said Mia," Dom tried explaining one more time, "They haven't gotten caught once. Plus, they can't do it to early on in the evening. They probably do it real late at night. From what Hector tells me, they start around 2:00 in the morning."  
  
"Hector is crazy, and so are you if you decide to get in with this crowd, Dom," Mia fired back, emphasizing her points with a finger thrusted at him. "I don't want to see you land back in jail because you want to go joy-riding for a measly $200."  
  
"Well, that's $200 that we didn't have before, isn't it?"  
  
"Yea, after Tran gets his %60 percent of the cut, after which we get what, $80? This is rediculous!"  
  
"Okay, everybody, shut up a second!" Vince finally stood up, flinging his hands in the air and walking to stand between the feuding brother and sister. "Now, first of all, Dom, man you are crazy thinking about doing this. Street racin', it's illegal man, and if you hadn't been put in Lompoc for two years, if you record was clear, I'd say hell yea, go for it, make your money, get your thrills. But his is craziness man, you don't know Tran worth shit. All you got is his word."  
  
"And considering that his sister is Leena Tran, their 'word' doesn't go very far," Letty finished up. Mia turned to Letty, eyebrows raised. "What are you talking about? Leena's cool, Letty. I don't know what it is you've got against her."  
  
"Not much, just the fact that she's fake and she's a skank, tryin' to steal every girls boyfriend at school. You can't stand there and tell me that you haven't seen that, Mia," Letty said, standing up as well. Now the only one left sitting in the room was Dom. Mia sighed and stepped back from her brother a few paces, getting her personal space in order once more. "Look Dom. Ultimately, it's your decision. He's giving you the car. You're the one racing. But I don't want you to do this. I don't want to loose you for another two years because your ass got caught drag racing down Hollywood Blvd. or some shit. I don't like Tran, I don't trust him."  
  
The room was quiet for a few minutes while Dom contemplated all of the opinions that were being shouted in the room. Finally, he looked up at his sister, then Vince, and finally Letty.  
  
"Let's go to the race tonight. We were invited. If Tran wants me on his team that badly, he won't mind you two comin' along." He nodded at Vince and Letty, who looked at eachother. "Let's see how they do, how they work." Mia gave a frustrated sigh, but nodded her head, looking at her brother.  
  
"After that, I'll decide." 


	12. The Race and The Rush

After calling Leena to see where and when the race that night would be taking place, Mia, Dom, Letty, and Vince piled into Dom's car and zoomed off towards the other side of the city of L.A. The race that night would be taking place near the corner of 3rd street and Boaudry Avenue near the Pacific Stock Exchange around 2:00 in the morning. The meeting before the race however, would be conducted in on of the many ware-houses near by.  
  
"When did they say they would be meeting?" Letty asked from the back seat. "They said that they would get together around 1:00 am and from there they would make the race deals and then head off to the area that they would be using," Mia answered from the front passanger seat. "See, what I want to know is how are they gonna block the traffic down there. It might be two in the morning, but still...There's probably gonna be a few random cars trying to go home that way, you know?" Mia said, shifting around in her seat to look at her best friend and Vince. The two of them just shrugged. "I guess we'll see that when we get there," Vince answered, grinning at Mia. She simply huffed a bit and turned back around in her seat. Her brother gave her a side long glance.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Mia," he told her soothing, making a left hand turn. "We'll park somewhere close by and walk the rest of the way. Then, if the cops do wind up getting called, we're ahead of everyone tryin' to get the hell outta there." His sister nodded her head, but she didn't say anything. She simply crossed her arms and stared out the window.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Nearing their destination, Dom found a parking space about three or four blocks from the ware-house that the racers would be meeting at. He parked, they all got out, and began to make thier way down the street to the meeting.  
  
When they arrived, everyone of them was completely taken aback. At least a hundred cars were there, all suped up, ready to roll. It also appeared that factions were clearly marked out amongst the cars. Tran and his crew were just inside the door, sitting on thier cars, some even had motorcycles. Another faction, the Hispanics, were a little farther back and to the right of the entrance way. Dom could just barely make out the bald head and stocky build of Hector. Surrounding him were most of his friends, and the women, while some of them were hanging on to a guys arm, were also busy dusting off and shinning up the cars windows and things of that nature.  
  
"Dominic, glad you could make it tonight!" Johnny Tran came from behind Dom and his friends, clapping the young man on the shoulder. "I was afraid that you had decided to decline our offer."  
  
"Ah, well, we're kinda here just lookin' right now," Dom explained, putting a protective arm around his sister's shoulders. He knew that she didn't like Tran, and therefore, there would be no more kissing of the hand in greeting for her. Plus, the atmosphere of the warehouse didn't exactly appeal to him in the ways of safety. "I uh, I brought two of my friends along. Vince, Letty, this is Johnny Tran. Johnny, this is Vince, obviously. My best friend since the third grade. This is Letty, my sisters best friend." Johnny shook hands with them both, although, just like he'd done with Mia, he bent down to kiss Letty's hand. "A pleasure," he told her. Dom heard Mia suck in a breath. He was doing exactly to Letty what he'd done to her earlier in the day, and she didnt' like it one little bit.  
  
"Letty. Didn't know you were the racer type," Leena said, skulking up behind her brother and leaning against him. "Yea, well. I'm just full of surprises," Letty told the girl, crossing her and her brother to stand beside Dom. "So, when does this thing get started, huh?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at Johnny. The latter raised his eyebrows slightly but none the less looked at his watch. "We'll leave for the site in a few minutes," he answered smoothly. He was a little surprised at this girls forwardness, but no matter. To him, if she was on Dom's team, then she might become quite an asset to his crew as well.  
  
The next 15 minutes were spent disscussing how Trans crew worked as a team, who and what car they decided to race, the different ways each person had spiced up thier car...it wasn't until Tran started to move towards Hector and another man, this one African American that things started to happen.  
  
"Edwin, Hector, always a pleasure," Tran stated, standing in the center of the circle that had been created when the factions respective leaders began to speak.  
  
"No sweat, man," Hector replied, nodding his head at Johnny and Edwin. The latter simply uped his chin a little at Tran. It was obvious that this Edwin guy didn't like the chinese man at all. "How much we racin' fo' tonight?" Edwin asked, chocolate brown eyes flicking from Tran to Hector. "How much do you have Edwin? I'd think that after our little race two days ago you wouldn't have enough time to get money to race again."  
  
An explosion of "OH!"'s and other jeering remarks came from Tran's camp, causing Dom and his gang to look from Edwin to Tran. Out of the corner of his eye, Dom saw his sister muttering to herself, and he plainly made out the words, "trash-talking bastard." He rested a hand on her arm and looked at her, barely shaking his head no, but he didn't have to even do that. His eyes told her his message: Not here, not now.  
  
"S'alright, Yo. We'll see how much you flap that mouth at the end of the night," Edwin responded calmly.  
  
"Hey, por-favor...let's not settle this in here, eh? Let's settle it out on the streets where it needs to be settled." Hector, apparently the peace maker of this clique intervened, holding a roll of money in his hands. "You each got $200, Im down for that match." Tran smiled at Edwin, his eyes never leaving the black mans as he took out a money roll from his own pocket. "Done," he said, arching an eyebrow at Edwin, who held his hand out behind him. His own money roll was slapped into his hands by one of his friends. "I can deal with that," he said. "Now, who holds the money?"  
  
"I have the perfect person," Tran answered, turning around and beckoning for Dominic to come forward. "This is a new recruit of mine, Dominic Toretto. Dominic, this is Edwin and Hector. They're the leaders of thier own street racing crews."  
  
"Yea, I know Hector. Sup man?" Dom asked, reaching out a hand to Hector, but the latter was slow to take it. "You rollin' with these guys, Dom?" he asked. Dominic shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, just here to watch, get a feel for what goes on around here after dark, you know?" He heard a sniff come from Edwin and Dom turned to look at him. "Don't sell yourself short, man," he said. "Tran ain't nothin' but a little rich boy tryin' to be somethin' he's not. He ain't fo' real."  
  
"I was "for real" two nights ago, Edwin," Tran shot back, but he kept his cool completely, his voice not raising or showing any hint of malace at all. Taking the money from both Hector and Edwin, he handed thier stash and his own to Dominic. "You hold onto this for now," he told him. "At the end of the race, you give it to whoever won. Easy enough, right?" he said, clapping Dom on the shoulder and looking back at Hector and Edwin. If looks could kill, Dom was pretty sure that Johnny wouldn't have been able to have a proper funeral.  
  
"See you at the finish line, boys," he said, turning Dominic around easily with his hand and steering him back towards his group of racers and chicks. Mia was waiting for them, tapping her foot lightly on the ground. She didn't have a great feeling about this. Before she could say anything however, Letty spoke up first. "You do alot of trash talking Johnny. You got the shit to back it up?" she asked him. While Tran and Dom had been conversing with the other racers, she and Mia had been having thier own discussion, and Letty had come to the same conclusion as her friend had.  
  
Johnny Tran was bad news.  
  
Her eyes never faltered from Tran, even as she heard the group of people around and behind her go silent. Obviously they believed that Tran wasn't one you questioned so forwardly. "You've got yourself a spitfire here, Dom," he commented, looking Letty over. "I like her. In answer to your question, Letty, yes. I've got all the shit I need to back up my statements. And more, besides." He tapped the hood of a car and gave her a reassuring smile, showing his pearly white teeth. "Come on guys, let's move out!"   
  
With that, a flourish of bodies began to move, jumping into cars, onto motorcycles, each trying to be the first person to get to the racing site. "Just follow us, Dominic," Tran called. "We'll lead the way." Dom, his sister, and thier friends got into the car in which they'd arrived and quickly zoomed out right behind Trans team. All the while, Mia was shaking her head in the front seat.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
When the entire racing community had reached the designated streets of 3rd and Boaudry, the area became alive with music, people, dancers, and, of course, racers checking out eachothers cars. All the streets leading into and out of the racing path had been blocked, and the other cars had lined up in diagonal parking postions to mark the side boundries of the race track. Four girls were busy running back and forth across the street, spray painting the start line. A quarter mile down the road, four more girls were spray painting the finish line.  
  
Parking along side Lances car, Dom got out and walked around to the hood of his car, leaning against it a little. He was amazed at the electric atmosphere that this hobby seemed to impress upon it's members. Vince strolled to his side, also taking in the view. Well, some of the view. "I'm definately liking this part of the world," he commented, cocking his head to the side and looking at one of Hectors girls who was bent over the hood of a car, apparently with a duster getting off any pollen, dust, or other foreign substance that had happend to make it's way onto the automobile. Dom only shook his head. "You're impossible, Bro," he told Vince, but he gave his friend a teasing grin and looked over to the girls. Letty didn't seem all that impressed with the show of cars, women, and money. And neither did Mia for that matter.  
  
"Mia, come here," Dom called, holding out an arm for her to walk into, which she did. He folded her into him, giving her a tight squeeze. "Just watch the entire thing before you form your opinion, huh?" he asked, giving her his puppy dog face. She only nodded her head, continuing to take in the enviroment around her. Her brother sighed and looked over at Letty, who was having a somewhat one sided conversation with a guy that just didn't seem to take a hint. For now, Dom would stay where he was. He was more than aware that Letty could take care of herself, but he would definately be keeping an eye on the guy until they left.  
  
About five minutes later, Dominic heard the distinctive sound of engines roaring down the street towards them, and soon, Johnny's, Edwin's, and Hectors cars were in sight. The stopped at the red painted line, and Dom could see them looking from side to side at eachother, giving their opponents last minute intimidation stares before the flag was flung down. At the edge of the starting line, Lance was standing on top of the trunk of one of his pals cars, his arms high in the air. The racers revved thier engines, each man eager to get the race started, to show the others and thier own team what they were made of. Suddenly, Lance swung his arms down, and in a fury of smoke and engine noise, the cars shot off simultaniously towards the finish line a quarter of the mile away.  
  
From where Dom was standing, he could see that Tran had already taken the lead, but both Edwin and Hector were hot on his tail, inching forward with every milisecond trying to take the lead away from the fast talking china man. Tran must have seen his two rivals coming from behind him, because he too began to inch away from them, going faster and faster. Edwin and Hector were not to be deterred however. They also put the pedal to the metal and once again, they were within reach of taking the lead from Tran. For another two or three seconds. Without warning, Tran shot ahead of his persuers, and right after him was Edwins car, leaving Hector in the dust. Dom cranned his neck to see who was going to win the race, Tran or Edwin, but from what he could tell, it was a pretty close match.  
  
Loud cheering from the finish line signaled that the race was over. The cars turned around each coming back towards the finish line at a more normal speed. When they arrived, the factions immediately swarmed over the racers, congradulating with claps on the back, hand shakes, and, in Edwins case, a long sultry kiss on the mouth from a woman who Dom had never seen before, but would like to see more of. Obviously, Edwin was in agreement with that thought as he came over to him, a satisfied smile on his face. "Wus up, man?" he greeted Dominic, slapping his hand into Doms and clenching them together. "So, where's my prize money at, Yo?"  
  
"Excuse me, YOUR prize money?"  
  
Leena Tran came throught he crowd towards Dom, her brother on her arm. "You must be delusional, Edwin. My brother won that race, fair and square." She glarred daggers at the man, stepping towards Dom and resting a hand on his shoulder. "Dom, you saw it right? Clearly my brother is the winner." Her eyes became soft, almost seductive like. Dom was at a loss of what to say. Therefore, it was a good thing that Mia and Letty came to his aid.   
  
"In case you forgot Leena, the finish line is a quarter of a mile away. Dom's eyesight is good, but it ain't that good. Besides, your brother and this guy were so close, it could be anyones guess from back here," Letty said, stepping into the small circle that had now formed. Her eyes briefly registered Leenas hand on Dominics shoulder for a moment, but she quelled her anger for the time being. Here was not the place to take Leena on, not when her brothers entire crew was there to make sure nothing happend to her. To take her mind off the girl, Letty tuned herself into what Mia was saying.   
  
"Yea, from back here, it seemed like the thing could have ended in a tie. And honestly, which one of you guys is going to sit here and say that the other person won, huh? When it was that close?" Mia put her hands on her hips and looked from Tran to Edwin and back again. "I say it ended in a tie." The girl that had given Edwin a kiss earlier came up beside the racer and looked Mia up and down. "And who the hell asked you, twinkle toes? Who is this bitch anyways?" She asked Edwin, pointing at Mia and looking at the girl with disdain. The girls comments did not make Letty happy and Vince had to grab her around the waist and pull her back around Dom's car so that she wouldn't give the girl what she had coming to her.  
  
Meanwhile, Tran was busy sedating his sister, who wasn't happy about what Edwins girl had said either. Lance had also come into the fold and was resting a careful but firm hand on Leenas shoulder. Johnny took his sister by the chin and whispered a few things into her ear, and when he pulled away, Leena stayed still, though she still had daggers for the skank.   
  
"Well Dominic. You hold the money, so ultimately, it's your decision. Who do you think won the race?" Johnny asked, holding his hands out. Edwin crossed his arms and also glared at Dom, the girl beside him doing the same thing. In fact, it seemed as though every eye on the street was on Dom. The latter looked at the money in his hands, then at Tran and Edwin. "I agree with my sister. The race was probably a tie from what I could see. So, in my opinion," he split the money evenly, $300 in each hand, "you each get half of the prize money. $300 each." He held the bills out towards the two racers and looked them over. The both looked at the money, then eachother, and nodded thier heads. "Aight," Edwin responded, taking his share of the cash. Johnny also took his $300 and nodded his head. "A very diplomatic decision, Dominic. I'm impressed."  
  
"COPS! COPS! WE GOT COPS! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!!"  
  
Cass's voice came blaring over the walkie-talkies that many of the people carried around with them. Johnny turned around and signaled to Lance, who immediately took Leena by the arm and pulled him towards his car. "I'll get in touch with you tomorrow, Dominic!" He yelled over his shoulder as he ran towards his car along with the mass of people. Dominic jumped off the hood of his car and rushed over to the drivers door, opening it roughly and sliding in, slamming the door. He looked at the passanger seat as Mia got in, and then in the rearview mirror at Letty and Vince, who had just slipped inside, slamming the doors behind them. "Come on, man! Get us outta here!" Vince yelled, strapping himself in with the seatbelt.  
  
Dom didn't need anymore inspiration than that. He jammed the keys into the car, flicked the starter and the engine roared to life. The sirens of the LAPD were now within hearing distance, and Dominic pulled out just in front of Lances car. Putting his foot to the gas, he zoomed out of the street along with everyone else. Cars were going every which way, taking any road that would lead them away from the massive force of cop cars that were heading thier way. "Dom!" Mia yelled, and her brother looked over at her to see her eyes trained on her passanger side mirror. Dom looked into his rearview again and saw the sparkeling red and blue lights that belonged to the police force. "Shit!" He yelled, slapping the steering wheel with both hands. The cops weren't right behind him, but if Dom could see thier lights in his mirror, then they were to close for comfort.  
  
"Hey, Dom! Take this alley way," Letty called up to him. Not asking any questions, Dominic sharply turned the vehicle into the narrow alley way and drove down it. "Take a left here," she called up again. Once more, Dominic turned the wheel hard and looped into yet another alley way. He went straight for about two miles until Letty told him to make another right, and when he did, he was greeted by a wonderful sight.  
  
The entrance to the Highway.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Man, that was some serious drivin' you had to do, Dom!" Vince said as he opened the door to the Torettos house and flipped on the light. Mia followed behind him, but instead of going into the living room as Vince had done, she walked right up the stairs and to her room. The door slamming was a pretty good sign that she was not in the best of moods at the moment. Dom stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked up towards the top, sighing to himself. She already knew what he was going to decide somehow. Dominic had always lived for the rush.  
  
What a rush tonight was.  
  
"So, Dom," Letty started, leaning against the frame of the entrance into the living room. "What're ya gonna do?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest. Dom nodded his head a little bit, then looked at her and Vince, who was sitting on the couch. "I think I'll take Tran up on his offer...$600 bucks, guys. Even %40 of that is something like $280 $260. And that's just in one night...think of the killing we could make!" He walked inside the living room fully and took a seat on the floor. Vince nodded his head. "Yea, it's a killing, but...man, you could catch some serious heat for this bullshit." He warned his best friend. "I mean, whatever you decide, I'm with you all the way. Just make sure that you know what you're doing, you know?"   
  
Dom nodded his head, looking at Vince. "I will. Thanks man," he said, reaching out an arm so that Vince could slap his hand into his own. He looked up at Letty, who still seemed skeptical about the whole thing. "You don't have to do this if you don't want Letty...I ain't gonna force you, or Mia for that matter." Dom assured her, standing up and putting his hands in his front pockets. But Letty shook her head, she too walking fully into the room now. "No. I'm with you," she said, nodding her head. "Just one thing."   
  
Dom raised his eyebrows at her.  
  
"What are the chances of Tran letting a girl race do you think?"  
  
Both Vince and Dom looked at her aghast. "Well...uh," Dom began, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Not sayin' that you-that you can't do it...or nothin' like that, but...I dunno, Letty," he finished numbly, shaking his head at her. "I mean, if it were me, yea, I'd say go ahead, knock yourself out, but...Tran...Tran seems kinda-"  
  
"Stuck in the ways of men do, women watch," Vince finished up for him. Dom sent a thankful looked Vinces way and glanced up at Letty. "I mean, I know you know how to drive a car but...you don't even have your licsence yet, right?"  
  
"Wrong. I get my licsence in a week," she informed them, but she nodded her head. "I know what you guys are sayin'...Mr. Johnny Tran doesn't seem to be the type to let girls race for him." She shook her head and looked at the clock.  
  
3:30 in the morning.  
  
"I'd better get out of here," she said, walking towards the door. But Dom stopped her. "Hey wait a sec, Let," he said, stopping to listen to what he'd just said. He continued quickly though, after he noticed her giving him a somewhat funny and indignant look. "Lemme drive you home," he said, fishing out his keys from his pocket. Letty just looked at him. "I live a couple houses down the street, Dom, I can walk. I've got two legs, see?" She slapped each leg with her hand and looked up at him.  
  
Oh yes, he saw her legs, of that she was quite sure. She was going to say something to knock him out of his trance when he did it himself though. "Yea, I know, but it's real late at night. Come on," he said, ushering her out of the living room entrance and into the foyer of his house. "Hey Vince, I'll back in a few," he called. He recieved an "uh huh" in reply and rolled his eyes. Vince would be conked out by the time Dom got back.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Thanks for the lift," Letty said, opening up the passanger side and getting out. She was surprised however, when Dom did the same. "What, are you going to walk me to my door too?" she asked sarcastically, but she sent a teasing smile his way. Dom merely shrugged his shoulders and came to stand beside the trunk of his car. "Nah. I know you can do that on your own," he said, grinning at her. He looked up into the nights sky. The stars were shinning brightly, each with thier own amazing twinkle. When he brought his eyes back down to a normal level, he found Letty standing beside him, also looking up at the sky. "Hey, Let?"  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"How did you know which way to go to get away from the cops tonight?" Letty brought her gaze level with Doms, but a hint of sadness was in her brown eyes. "My dad used to work down in that area," she said in a soft voice. "He used to do odd jobs in some of the ware-houses, even managed one at one point. You know, deciding what goes where, knowing what shipments you get and who gets them next, hiring people, firing people. That kinda thing."  
  
"Oh."  
  
They were quiet for another moment or two before Dom spoke again. "What was that guy saying to you earlier?" he finally asked. Letty's brow creased a little as she looked at Dom again. "What guy?" she asked. "You know...when we were waiting for the race to start and shit. There was some dude standin' next to you talkin' your ear off. You weren't sayin' much of anything from what I could tell though." A look of recognition came on Letty's face. "Oh, him," she muttered, fingering her shirt. "He was just boastin' about his car and how much money he made and shit like that. Wanted to know if I wanted to be part of his 'street team'." Letty shook her head, smirking at the memory. "By street team, I'm pretty sure that he meant one of those skanks that would give him head after he won a race or somethin'". She laughed bitterly. "Pisses me off that guys think that's the only thing women are good for, ya know?"  
  
Dom nodded his head, looking at her carefully. "Yea, I know. I guess that's where the want to race thing came in tonight, eh?" Letty shrugged. "I've always been into cars, you know that," she said, but she sighed nodding her head. "But yea, I would like to get out there and burn some rubber." Another silence followed, but unlike the others, this one was awkward. Like something was left undone, like something was missing...  
  
"When's your birthday again?" Dom suddenly asked. Letty looked at him and frowned. "Oh...uh...August 7th." She glanced up at him. "Why?" Dom shrugged his shoulders. "I was just trying to figure out what to get you...you know, how much time I had, shit like that." Letty nodded at him and looked around the dark street. Dominics house was the only one that had any lights on at all. Her eyes trailed back up to his face, but they didn't miss the hand that was snaking up to cup her left cheek. A tingle went down her spine as his finger tips grazed across the skin on her face, and she flicked her tongue between her lips nervously. "I-I should probably be going inside now," she stammered out, but she didn't take her eyes off Dom...  
  
...who's face was coming closer to hers with each passing second.  
  
Registering the fact that Dom was only getting that close physically for one reason, Letty decided to close the distance between the two of them quicker than he had anticipated. When her lips touched his, shockwaves permiatted her body, which only made her want to deepen the kiss even more. She therefore induldged herself, moving her mouth against his slowly and rhythmically, not wanting to rush this short moment that she had been waiting for for at least four years.  
  
Dom, meanwhile, was busy pulling Letty closer to him by snaking a well muscled arm around her waist, at the same time, lifting her up a little so that she was on the tips of her toes. He felt her small hand grip his shoulder and a slender arm wrap around his own waist. Good. She wanted this as much as he did.  
  
Finally, Dominic pulled away slowly and held Letty close to him, wrapping both arms around her a safe and secure embrace. She returned it fully, her head nuzzled just beneath Dom's chin, her fingers dancing a little on Dominics back. Dom's hand creapt up slowly to the back of her neck and came around slowly so that he could lift her chin with is thumb.  
  
"Now you should go inside," he said softly, planting a kiss on her forehead. In return, she kissed the tip of his chin and stepped away, walking backwards towards the steps of her house. "I'll uh...I'll give you a call or somethin' tomorrow, okay?" Letty nodded her head as she stepped on the first step. "Yea," she agreed, taking another step. Finally, when she was at the top, she opened the door slowly, and then turned around, watching as Dominic got into his car. She waved at him as he pulled into her driveway, then pulled out in the direction of his own house.   
  
She watched until he pulled in his own driveway, and then, smiling to herself, went inside and closed the door softly. 


	13. A Bet? There Was a Bet?

"I don't believe this," Mia muttered as she sat on the couch next to Letty the next day. Letty gave her friend a sideways glance and could only shrug her shoulders. Vince was perched on the back of the sofa, drinking a bottle of Corona that he had managed to snag out of his own kitchen. And they were all watching Dom who was on the phone.  
  
With Johnny Tran.  
  
"....yea, yea...oh yea, no problem man. Yea, I definately want to take you up on your offer, sounds like alot of fun, you know, when the cops ain't chasin' you and shit."  
  
His sister smacked and hand to her forehead and Dominic looked down. He gingerly reached over and patted her head then jumped back out of arms reach in case Mia decided to swap him.  
  
Which she did.  
  
"And the next race is where?" Dom was saying. He grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and began to jot down some notes. "Ah, okay, yea go ahead and gimme that one too," he said a few moments later. Finally, he was done writing and he sat down on the recliner. "Alright man. I will see you there tonight then. Oh no, wouldn't dream of being late. Aight, check ya later." With that said, Dominic hung up the phone and looked around the room.  
  
"We're in," he said, putting down the phone. Vince and Letty only nodded, but Mia stood up and began to walk out of the room. "Oh goody," she was saying as her feet hit the steps to go up to her room. Five seconds later, Dom and company heard a door slam.  
  
A very angry door slam.  
  
Dominic sighed and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops, looking up in the direction of where Mias room would be. He shook his head and lowered his gaze to Letty and Vince. Vince simply shrugged, but Letty didn't meet his gaze, only pursed her lips. An uncomfortable silence followed. Finally, Letty slapped her legs and stood up. "I'm gonna go up and talk to her," she told the boys. Dom nodded and as he walked over to the couch to lie down, gently rested his hand on the nap of Letty's neck, which made her freeze for about two seconds. Reaching behind her, she gently patted his hand at the same time taking it off her skin and rubbing his hand with her thumb.  
  
This did not go un-noticed by Vince.  
  
As soon as he heard Mias door slam for a second time, Vince nudged Dom with his foot. "What was that, man?" he asked, a grin on his face. Dom looked up and around. "What was what?" he asked innocently.  
  
"Hey Dominic, man. You just touched Letty on the back and I could see her tense up from all the way over here. What's the deal?"  
  
Dom looked around, placing this tips of his fingers on his hips, trying to play off the questions. "I've got no idea what you're talkin' about Vince," he said, but Vince stood up, grinning even wider this time. "Haha! It finally happend, didn't it? Something finally sparked between the two of ya, huh?"  
  
Dom didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. Vince slapped his hand together once in glee and fell back on the couch, laughing. His friend just stared at him. "Is it that funny?" Dominic finally asked. Vince tried about two times to stop himself before he was finally able to sit himself up and look at Dom without cracking up again. "No, no man...it's just that me and Mia..." he weakened once more and fell back into his fit of laughter. Dom stepped forward, getting a little irritated now and leaned over Vince. "You and Mia? You and Mia what?" he said, glaring at his best friend.  
  
"Hold on, hold on, Dom, damn. Nothin' like that, Bro," Vince defended, wiggeling out from underneath his friend and finally coming to a standing position beside him. Dom waited patiently for Vinces explaination, all the while trying to decide where to punch him first if the news was that Vince and Mia had hooked up. He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, and Vince was finally able to spill.  
  
"Me and Mia, we had a bet going. You know, to see how long it would take the two of you to get together. I won!"  
  
Dominic stood there. He stood there for a very long while, taking in everything Vince had just told him. His bestfriend and his sister....betting to see how long it would take for him to get with someone...and Letty at that. Vince was still standing in front of him, and now, a look of worry was beginning to cross his features. "Hey, Dom, man, If I'da known it would upset you, I wouldn'ta done it, ya know?"  
  
All Dom did was nod his head. Actually, he found it quite comical. He started to laugh, rubbing his hand over his bald head and turning away from his best friend. "I should've expected it from ya, Vince," he said through a few chuckles. He shook his head. "So, you won, eh? How much does she owe ya?"  
  
Vince shrugged. "Aww, that's not important..."  
  
"How much does she owe you?" Dom asked, this time in a more serious tone.  
  
"$200."  
  
"........................"  
  
"Dom?"  
  
He recieved a look from Dominic that somewhat resembled shock and surprise. Finally, he let his hands fall to his sides and he slumped down on the sofa next to Vince. "She better come up with the money herself, cuz she ain't gettin' any from me."  
  
Vince let out a releaved chuckle. "Damn man...for a minute there, I thought you were gonna beat the shit out of me or something."   
  
Dominic shrugged and gave Vince a 'duh' look. "I wouldn't knock you out for making a bet with my sister, man. You'd have to do somethin' pretty wild to piss me off enough to do that to you, you know?" Vince nodded his head and settled back on the couch, propping his ankle up on his knee. There was silence for a few minutes. And then....  
  
"So, does that mean I can ask Mia out on a date?"  
  
"Not a chance."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"And then he kissed you?"  
  
"Yea....he did."  
  
"Well, that sucks!"  
  
Out of all the words that could have come out of Mia's mouth, Letty was definately not expecting that. "That sucks? How does that suck? You've been waiting for this for four years! What the hell happend?!"   
  
Mia sighed and rolled over on her stomach, resting her chin on her hands in front of her. "I don't mean it sucks the fact that the two of you are getting together, I mean it sucks because I lost the bet." Letty furrowed her eyebrows. "Bet? What bet?"  
  
"Me and Vince had a bet going to see how long it would take the two of you to get together or something. I lost."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yea....".  
  
"That's not good."  
  
"Nope."  
  
Letty switched her position on Mia's bed to a cross legged one. "So, how much do you owe him?" She finally asked. Mia heaved a great sigh once more. "$200." She closed her eyes as she spoke and then opened them once more so that she could see the look on Lettys face. The girls mouth was agape with horror.  
  
"$200?!"  
  
Mia nodded her head, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "Yep," she said, finally sitting up. "but it's worth it. You and Dom finally got what was coming to you. The hard part is gonna be staying together." Letty shook her head at this though.  
  
"No...no, I don't think it'll be hard at all," she commented, leaning back against the wall next to the bed. Mia snorted.  
  
"You don't know my brother." 


	14. When Four Become Six

The months passed as they so often do. September soon reared it's ugly head, meaning that Letty and Mia had to go back to school, while Dom and Vince were working on cars and trying to open a garage together. For everyone involved, money was tight. Letty's mother had to take on a second job, and Letty was still trying to find work somewhere so that the money she earned would go to herself, while the money her mother earned would go to what was need around the house, such as food, rent, electricity and other things that parents were supposed to pay for.  
  
Because some of the kids that were in the racing business also were in the school business, the over night race parties had taken somewhat of a steep dive. Where as everynight there would be races going on somewhere in L.A., now the community was lucky if they got to take part in one race a week.  
  
It countinued like that until the next summer rolled around, and by this time, Vince and Dom had put together enough money to buy a small, decreaped looking building that would serve as thier garage. Letty's senior year was coming up, and Mia would begin attending the nearest community college in the fall. But it was summer now. Just the beginning of June.  
  
And that meant race season was on again.  
  
"Yea, Johnny, we got the garage, lock, stock, and barrel. Sure, come on over, bring your cars, I'll give ya a couple of tune up's for free!" Dom was saying as Letty and Mia were sweeping, mopping, and wiping the floor and windows. While the girls attitudes had calmed down somewhat about Johnny Tran, they were both still of the mind that they didn't trust the oriental man one bit. And Letty still had daggers for Leena Tran.  
  
"You know, it's bad enough that Dom has to be around Johnny," she commented as she lugged a bucket of water over to a new area that needed to be mopped. "But it's even worse that Leena has to be right there with him, eyeing MY boyfriend as though he were a piece of meat!" She slammed the mop into the bucket and splattered water onto the surrounding flooring, then, just as forcefully, yanked the mop out of the container and slammed it onto the cement. Mia winced as she watched Letty, almost seeing the waves of anger and jealousy flowing off of her.  
  
"Well, as long as she doesn't make a move on him, there's not much you can do, you know?" Mia's voice of reason came through as she sweapt up some old shards of glass and dumped them into the trashcan. Vince popped up behind her. "You aughta give her a chance, Letty. Leena's real-" he cut himself off as Letty gave him a stare of death. "...pushy." he finally finished, looking down at the ground and clearing his throat. "I-I'm gonna be over here...painting, if-if anyone you know-needs me or any..thing.." He half smiled at the girls, and then hauled tail to one of the walls that he'd been working on before he came over. Letty watched him go, shaking her head and then continuing with the mopping.  
  
"Aight man, I'll see you tonight then. Yea, I'll bring my crew, they're already there. Aight, Johnny. Talk at ya later." Dom hung up the phone and turned to face the others. "We got a race tonight, my friends. We meet at the usual warehouse at midnight." He clapped his hands together and walked over to the garage door, opening it up. What greeted him was something he was not expecting. Two young men were standing right outside, one about Vinces build and height, and one that was shorter than Letty and not so hard of muscle. In fact, that kid looked down right nervous.  
  
"Can I help you?" Dom asked, after getting over his shock. The heavily build one stepped forward, taking off his sunglasses. "Actually, my partner and I noticed that you were opening up a garage. Wondered if you needed an extra pair of hands." Dom raised his eyebrows. "An extra pair of hands? You mean like a job?" The guy nodded, while the younger boy behind him kept looking around. Dominic noticed that he was holding very tightly to something flat and square.  
  
"Everything okay, Dom?"  
  
Vince, Mia, and Letty walked up behind Dom, surveying the two newcomers. "Ah, yea. Everythings fine, just talkin' to uh..." he looked at the guys again. "What are your names?" The man with the sunglasses introduced himself. "I'm Leon, behind me is Jessi. Don't mind him, he's just a little nervous meeting new people. He'll get better." Jessi nodded, now looking over the four people standing in the garage. Dom stepped back, waving them inside. "Well, come on in, we'll have a talk. You guys want a beer?"  
  
"Sure, that'd be great, actually," Leon answered, while Jessi just shrugged and said, "sure," walking right on in behind Leon. Vince placed his hands on his hips, arching a bushy brown eyebrow at Dom, but the latter shook his head. Dom walked over to the cooler where the brewskies were kept and dug out two coronas, tossing them at Leon and Jessi. "There ya go," he said, slamming the cooler shut, then sitting down on it. "So, where you guys from?" He asked, indicating the floor with a hand for them to sit down. Jessi sat down, while Leon remained standing, resting against the side of a wall. "Around," he answered vaguely. "Can't really exactly tell you where we're from, we've been so many damned places. But we were both born in L.A., and we've been most everywhere in California...Sacramento, San Diego, Sunset, Bel-Air, San Fran...you name it, we've probably been there."  
  
"That's alot of traveling," Letty spoke up, leaning against the wall that was behind Dom and the cooler. "What did you do that made you jump so much?" Jessi glanced up at Letty, his leg bouncing up and down. "We worked with racers...street racers," he answered, then, he continued to look about the garage, his eyes setteling on the cars that Vince and Dom were sprucing up for thier racing purposes. Dom's eyebrows raised slighty. "Streetracers, huh? Ever done any racing in L.A.?" Leon nodded his head. "Yea, and by the look on your face, looks like you have too." He took a sip of beer, putting the ball in Dom's court once more. "Who'd you race with?" Dom asked, also taking another swig of beverage.  
  
"Guy by the name of Johnathan Tran, ever heard of him?"  
  
Dom's eyebrows went all the way up, Letty cocked her head to the side, Mia stopped leafing through papers that she had picked up on the way over to the cooler, and Vince nearly spit out his beer. For himself, Leon mearly nodded. "Guess so," he said. Jessi, on the other hand, was now focused solidly on the group before him.  
  
"Yea, we've heard of him. Me and now Vince here, we race for him."   
  
Leon glanced from Vince to Dom, then at last said, "My apologies." He took another sip of beer, but when he brought the bottle down, he noticed the two garage owners looking at him very strangely. "You want to explain that a little?" Vince asked, and his tone left no room for argument. "Sure," Leon answered. "It's a long story though, you got a stool or somethin' I can sit on?" Letty snorted. "Floors lookin' real good right now, buddy." To prove her point, she slid down the wall into a sitting position, stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankle, looking up at him expectantly. With all eyes on him, Leon plopped to the floor and brought his legs to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.  
  
"Well," he began,"me and Jessi worked for Tran for about two years as mechanics. Everything was cool until one of the big races came up, not Race Wars, but one of the bigger ones before that. We were working on the same car, me doing the handy work with the engine, Jessi tellin' me how to make the damn thing hum better, go faster, rev better...and how much NOS I could put in the tubes before the damn thing blew up. Well, we'd filled up the the tanks as far as they could go safely, but that wasn't good enough for Johnny. He wanted more in there. We tried to tell him it wasn't good for the car or the driver, but he didn't give a shit. He wanted to win, at any cost. So, we shrugged our shoulders and poured some more NOS in the tank, and bam. We were done. At the race that night, that very car was being used, and Lance was driving it. The first and second round of NOS went off okay, but the third round...well, before Lance or Johnny knew what was happening, the damn engine had flames comin' out of it, and it was almost BBQ city for Tran and Tran, if you know what I mean." Leon shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Of course, Tran blamed the whole thing on us, told us that we had deliberately tried to kill him, and he was lucky that he didn't slap us with an attempted murder suit, to which I told him that if he did, he would have to tell when, where, and why the incident happend, and that would blow his entire underworld racing game sky high. Eventually, he just told me and Jessi to haul tail out of his gang. We've been doing odd jobs on cars ever since."  
  
A silence followed the story, and eventually all heads were turned to Dom, waiting for him to announce his decision.  
  
"You've got jobs." He said, after about another two minutes. He looked up at the two guys. Leon was nodding, getting up and holding up his hand for Dom to shake, while Jessi was grinning like an idiot, and, for the first time, putting the thin, square looking object down on the floor and heading at once over to the cars.  
  
"Thanks alot, man," Leon let go of Dom's hand and looked at the other three. "Well, I know your name," he said, pointing at Vince, "but as for the ladies here, I haven't had the pleasure." He smiled at them, extending a hand towards Mia. Dominics sister stepped forward, grasping Leons hand firmly and introduced herself, under Vinces' watchful eye, which Leon didn't fail to notice. He quickly let go of Mia's hand and looked at Letty. "And you are?" Letty eyed him sternly before answering him.  
  
"Letty." she said, shortly, taking hold of Leons hand and making sure to squeeze it as tightly as she could to show her strength. She'd be damned if Leon thought of her the way that Tran and his crew thought of thier girls, as side dishes, or trophies for winning a race.  
  
"My sister," Dom said, pointing Mia, "and my girlfriend," he finished, putting a casual arm around Letty's shoulders. "They're part of my team...speaking of which, now that' you're part of my team, you should know that we have a race tonight. Feel like seeing your former boss again?" While Leon nodded his head, a loud bang was heard from over near the cars, and five team members looked over to find Jessi looking worridly at them. "What's up with him?" Letty asked, furrowing her brow. She wasn't entirely sure that Dom hadn't let a psycopath into their team...but then again, Dom was racing for Johnny Tran...  
  
"Hey, Jessi, man, it's okay. Nothin's gonna happen to ya this time, I promise," Leon was saying as he walked over to Jessi. The latter eyed his good friend warily, then looked over to the group of four that was still quite confused on what was going on. "Tran's men kinda roughed us up a little after the car went bad," Leon explained. "Went for Jessi, of course, chicken shits." He clapped a hand on the boys shoulder, and he looked uncertainly at Leon, then, stuck his head back into the car and once again began rummiging around.  
  
"Well, my friend. Grab a paint brush. Your first day starts right now," Dom said, coming up to Leon and Jessi. "He can tinker with the cars all he wants to...but what's that thing that he was carrying around?"  
  
"That's my laptop, man," Jessi answered, looking up at Dom from the hood of the car. "I've got all my schematics and ideas saved in that shit. Makes the cars go 'vroom vroom' a hell of a lot better, know what I mean?" Dom chuckled at the kid, then guided Leon away from the car.  
  
"My sisters making an Italian dinner tonight. That means lot's food, so how about you and Jess come over and help us eat it, huh?" Bending down, he and Leon took hold of paint brushes and began to swipe the wall with a plain biege color.  
  
"Cool stuff, man," Leon said, "thanks alot."  
  
"And after that," Dom said, swiping the wall with his own brush, "we race." 


	15. Tension Rising

"How many times are you going to ask me this question, Letty?"  
  
"Until I get a straight answer from you, that's how many!" Letty propped her elbow up on the passanger side of Doms car and looked out the window. She and Dom were arguing again about Johnny Tran. Hearing Leon and Jessi's story had only furthered her dislike for the guy, and she had there fore pulled Dom away from everyone else earlier that night to tell him, yet again, her feelings on the issue. Well, things had just escalated from there, and now they were practically yelling at eachother in the car.  
  
"I have given you a straight answer god knows how many times, Let. He's giving us money to race our cars. As long as he doesn't double cross us, then I don't care what he does!"  
  
"Oh, right, and that shit that happened with Leon and Jessi isn't going to happen to us, right?"  
  
"Exactly!" Dom cut the wheel to the left, slamming him and Letty both towards the right of the car. "Would you slow the fuck down?!" Letty screamed, never thinking that those words would come out of her mouth.  
  
"Hey Dom, man...what the hell is going on up there, bro?" Vinces voice came through the walkie talkie that the team always carried with them. Letty picked it up first, as Dom was still trying to get control of the car. "Dom is tryin' to kill us, that's what!"  
  
"No, I'm not, I'm just frustrated with you for asking the same damn thing over and over again, and I give you the same damn answer, over and over again!" Dom's voice could be heard loud and clear through the radio as he made another turn, this one in more control then the previous one.   
  
"Well, maybe if you would open up those eyes of yours and look at the facts, maybe I would stop badgering your ass over it."  
  
"Facts, what facts?! You guys don't like Tran. I'll tell you a secret, Let, I don't like him either, but he's a business man, and so am I, and as long as we've got that straight between us, he's not going to be able to try anything without me busting his face in!" He made another turn, this one on the street that the warehouse would be on.  
  
"Oh my god, I don't believe I am hearing this...you don't like him, but yet you'll work for him, what bullshit is this?" She turned fully away from Dom and for the rest of the short ride, glared out of the window, watching the warehouse come up on them slowly. She could see a few cars ahead of them turn into the warehouse loading bay like doors, and pretty soon, Dom, Vince, and Leon were turning in behind those cars.  
  
Ripple effects of car doors slammed shut as racers, their 'managers' and, as Letty liked to refer to them, their 'skanks' got out of thier cars. For the meantime, Letty steared herself clear of Dom. She wasn't in the mood to be around him, and she knew that if she saw Tran and him together, talking smoothly, conducting business deals and the like, she would go completely random on both of them.   
  
And there was the added fact that wherever Tran was, his sister was as well, and would more than likely be trying to get her grubby little paws all over Dom, which was something that Letty didn't want to witness.  
  
Leaning against her car, she crossed her arms and watched as the boys, along with Mia, headed over towards Trans ranks, slapping hands with those they knew and beginning conversations. Sure enough, there was Johnny, and right behind him was his sister, looking at Dominic like a peice of meat. Letty watched Tran carefully as the two new members of the team walked up behind him. While Tran showed no outward notice of Leon and Jessi, his cousin Lance started for them immediately.  
  
"What the hell are you two doing back here?" he sneered at them, pointing his finger in Leons face. Before Leon could answer though, Dom had a hand on the mans chest, pushing him back from Lance.  
  
"Leon and his buddy Jessi here work for me now," he answered, in a no nonsense tone that, dispite her anger, Letty was glad to hear. What she wasn't glad to hear though, was Leenas' voice pip up. "You're getting yourself into some serious trouble here, Dominic. These two nimrods nearly killed my cousin and brother a while back." Letty let out a stacatto sigh and fixed Leena with an angry and intimidating gaze.  
  
"You always have somethin' to say, don't you?" she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip out to the side. Everyone else in the vicinity stopped thier conversations and tuned into what was going on in the center of the warehouse. Everyone in the Los Angeles racing scene knew that Leena and Letty hated eachother, but neither of the girls had gotten into an actual verbal fight at a pre-race meeting before.  
  
So for the men, this was heaven.  
  
"When it concerns my family, yes, I always have something to say." Leena remained behind her brother while Letty stepped out and around Dominic. "Don't tell me you have a problem with being outspoke, Leticia. You seem to practice it enough for all the women of Los Angeles." A smirk played on her narrow features as a flurry of surprised voices went up in the crowd.  
  
"Well damn. Look who's grown a back bone. Pity you can't come right here and say it. But then, you know you'd be within in punching range." She cocked a smirk at Trans sister, to which the girl smiled a small smile and began to step out and in front of her brother.  
  
"If you think I'm afraid of you, you've got another thing coming," she declared, placing her hands on her hips as she walked and stopped in front of Letty. Well out of the latter girls reach though.   
  
"Well, when you've got your brothers entire crew behind you, I guess I wouldn't be afraid of me either."  
  
Leena cocked and eyebrow at Letty, then looked at Dominic, who, in one of his rare moments of intellegence, was keeping clear of the cat fight. "Honestly, Dom," Leena cooed, turning her back on Letty, "you've got to be a little more selective of the...broads you bring home."  
  
That was all it took. Letty had had enough. She took a leap at Leena, but luckily, Dominic was standing close enough to grab his girlfriend around the waist. With the fury that she was in though, Letty was quickly breaking free of her boyfriends grasp, and nearly escaped his arms before Vince also took a hold of her and hauled her back to her own car. Leena, while all this was going, took the chance to hide behind her brother and smile at the angry hispanic girl as she was dragged off. She batted her eyes at Dominic, but he only gave her an annoyed gaze. Then, his eyes shifted to Tran.  
  
"Next time, I'll let her go, business deal or no business deal, Tran," he warned, pointing at the chinese man before he turned on his heel and headed over to where Vince had dragged Letty. The rest of his team followed in close pursuit. As the walked away, the could hear the quiet voice of Johnny repremanding his sister, and the sound of heels, then a door opening and closing to one of the cars.  
  
When Dominic reached Letty's side, she was once against her calm, slightly pissy self, but glaring at Leena. Her eyes might as well have been missles. Dominic caught himself silently thanking God that they weren't otherwise the entire warehouse would have gone up in flames. He opened his mouth to say something, but Letty cut him off.  
  
"Don't...just don't. Go. Do your race deals. I'll be fine." Her voice was dull, tinged with a hint disdain as she refused to meet Dom's gaze. At a loss for what to do, Dominic only nodded his head and looked at his sister. "Ride with her," he said. Mia knew enough that that statement was an order, not a request, and she moved to staned beside her best friend, drapping an arm over the girls shoulders as the boys walked away, back to the Tran, Edwin, and Hector.  
  
"Alright boys, let's do this. Where's the race tonight?" Dominic asked, rubbing his hands together and looking at the crew leaders.  
  
"Starting line is at the corner of Ferdinand and Fresno, we meet there at 1:30," Hector supplied, giving him a piece of paper with directions on it. Dominic nodded. "Alright. What's the word on the cop beat around that area?"  
  
"That's not gonna much matter anymore, Dominic," Leon interjected. Dom gave him a strange look. "What are you talkin' about?"  
  
"Johnny knows what I'm talkin' about," he said, nodding his head at his former employer. Tran merely rolled his eyes. "I've got a system installed in my car that's tuned into the cop radio channels. I know where they are, and when they're coming. If the porkers decide to show their tails, we'll be long gone before they can get a reading on our plates." Dominic grinned at Leon and looked back at Tran. "You sure you don't want him back?" he joked, turning away. "Alright boys, let's go. We'll meet up at Ferdinand and Fresno." He started to head towards Letty, but found that she and Mia were already in her car and starting up the engine. He sighed and watched as she was the first one to tear out of the warehouse. He wasn't worried though. She knew where she was going. Plus, he wasn't about to get in her way when she was as pissed as she was at the moment.  
  
"See you there, Dominic!"  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by Leena's voice. He looked behind him, seeing that she was now in the backseat of her brothers car, with the window rolled down, and her sultry face shinning through it. He nodded his head once, then started for his car, Vince, Leon, and Jesse behind him. 


End file.
